He's an Aussie: Joe the pigeon spared death as U.S. tag deemed fake (updated)
15/01/2021 10:48
(Recasts with agriculture dept saying bird is Australian)
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A pigeon due to be put down in
Australia after apparently flying across the Pacific was spared
the death sentence on Friday, after a leg tag identifying it as
belonging to a U.S. bird organisation was declared a fake.
The tag suggested it had lost its way during a race in
Alabama and flown more than 13,000 kilometres (8,000 miles) to
Melbourne - thereby falling foul of strict quarantine
regulations forbidding the importation of live animals or birds.
But as a Twitter campaign for the bird - christened Joe by
its supporters - to be returned safely to America gathered pace,
the American Racing Pigeon Union declared the ID band a fake.
"The pigeon found in Australia sports a counterfeit band and
need not be destroyed per biosecurity measures, because his
actual home is in Australia," it said in a Facebook post.
Melbourne resident Kevin Celli-Bird had found the pigeon -
and its tag - in his garden on Boxing Day, according to
Australian media.
"If Joe has come in a way that has not met our strict
biosecurity measures then bad luck Joe. Either fly home or face
the consequences," Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told
reporters on Friday.
But, late in the day, a reprieve came from the Department of
Agriculture.
"Following an investigation, the department has concluded
that Joe the Pigeon is highly likely to be Australian.... No
further action will be taken ... in relation to this matter."
Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and his then wife Amber Heard
were charged with illegally bringing their Yorkshire terriers
Pistol and Boo into Australia in 2015, but the animals were
spared after their owners agreed to be bound by a good behaviour
bond.
(Reporting by Swati Pandey, Renju Jose, Stefica Nicol Bikes;
Editing by Jacqueline Wong and John Stonestreet)
((renju.jose@thomsonreuters.com; +61 2858 77243;))