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Heart lifting update 01/15/2021: Joe the pigeon has been spared execution after Australian authorities determined it is highly unlikely that Joe was American after all, suspecting that "the bird's leg band is a fraudulent copy of a legitimate leg band".
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Introducing some inspiration for Pixar's next feel good movie of the summer: A tale of a plucky racing pigeon made it all the way across the Pacific Ocean from the US to Australia and is immediately tracked down by the authorities for execution. Ah 2021, you are spoiling us already.
Melbourne resident Kevin Celli-Bird (no relation) found an exhausted pigeon in his back yard on Boxing Day. The bird was clearly in distress, and after nursing it back to health and naming it Joe, he would soon find out why.
“I’ve got a fountain in the backyard and it was having a drink and a wash," Bird (the human) told Associated Press. "He was pretty emaciated so I crushed up a dry biscuit and left it out there for him."
Bird (man) went out the next day to take a look at the bird (bird), and was able to get close enough to see it had a distinctive blue band on its leg. After doing some digging, Bird discovered that the bird was a racing pigeon that had disappeared from a race in Oregon way back on October 29. Experts told AP that the bird may have hijacked (well, hitched a lift anyway) aboard a cargo ship across the Atlantic, before making its way to Bird's back yard, while Australian National Pigeon Association secretary Brad Turner told London Economic that similar cases had happened involving birds from China.
The tale of the bird's long journey made Australian newspapers as a light and fun piece about a kind man who helped heal the pigeon back to health. When the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service saw the story, they let it be known that they would like to either deport the bird or kill it.
Bird (the human) was contacted by the department, who told him that the bird was "not permitted to remain in Australia", in possibly the most Cruella DeVille way of expressing it.
"Regardless of its origin, any domesticated bird that has not met import health status and testing requirements is not permitted to remain in Australia," a department spokesperson said in a statement seen by the BBC, adding that they confirmed they will have to put down the bird.
"The only possible outcome to manage the biosecurity risk is humane destruction of the bird."
Australia has strict rules around what comes into the country, even going as far as to charge Amber Heard with illegally bringing their pet dogs into the country in 2015, a crime that carries a possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
