Five things about Joe the pigeon’s Journey
An Alabama racing pigeon that survived a lengthy and mysterious trip across the Pacific Ocean is now facing the death penalty, with local authorities worried about disease planning to kill the bird as soon as they can catch it. Here’s the story.
1 Two months on The ‘road’
The exhausted pigeon, sporting a blue band on its ankle, “rocked up” to the home of Melbourne resident Kevin Cellibird last month, the man said. “It was pretty emaciated so I crushed up some biscuits.” The Oklahoma-based American Racing Pigeon Union said the bird, registered in Montgomery, Ala., is believed to have escaped a competition in Oregon on Oct. 29, possibly hitching a ride aboard a cargo ship.
2 nice To see you, now go
The pigeon, which Celli-bird has named Joe (after president-elect Joe Biden) hangs out in his backyard, bathing in the fountain and sitting on a pergola with a local dove. But while Joe may have survived the 12,874-km (as the, erm, crow flies) journey to Melbourne, Australia has some of the world’s strictest quarantine laws, and a pigeon from the U.S. could be carrying exotic diseases that threaten Australia’s biosecurity.
3 you’re welcome here, but not
Under normal circumstances, importing a pigeon would require permits and health certificates from the notoriously strict Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and a reservation at a quarantine facility. Celli-bird said quarantine authorities called him last week to ask him to catch the bird.
4 depp doggos
In 2015, Australian authorities threatened to euthanize two dogs — Pistol and Blue — belonging to Johnny Depp and his then-wife Amber Heard, after they snuck the Yorkshire terriers into the country without the proper permits. “We found out he snuck them in because we saw them taking them to a poodle groomer,” former Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said in an interview at the time.
5 bird biosecurity risk
An Australian Agriculture Department statement said the bird was “not permitted to remain in Australia” as “it could compromise Australia’s food security and wild bird populations. It poses a direct biosecurity risk to Australian bird life and our poultry industry,” the statement said.