The pigeons who made it home after a big National Day out in China
- Pet owners contributed the thousands of ‘peace doves’ released in Tiananmen Square at the end of a huge parade for the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic
Pigeon fanciers played an integral role in China’s National Day celebrations by supplying and training the 70,000 “peace doves” released at the end of the massive parade in Beijing on Tuesday.
Organisers of the parade sent out a call to members of the Beijing Carrier Pigeon Association, who volunteered their birds for the event marking the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
In the run-up to National Day, owners had to “train” their birds twice a day and let them fly around their neighbourhoods in formation, the report said.
Before the parade, the birds had to be checked for diseases and loaded into special vehicles fitted with cages designed to release them automatically at the designated time.
In a letter dated September 11, the China Carrier Pigeon Association also asked regional associations in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei province, Inner Mongolia and Liaoning province to put pigeon racing and training on hold until Wednesday because of aircraft rehearsals for the parade.
“We have received a notice from the military airspace command centre, requesting us to stop all pigeon flying activities for the time being,” the letter said.
Pigeon owners shared photos online of birds that made it back home.
“This peace dove used in the National Day ceremony is kept by my girlfriend’s dad,” one person posted on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, said.
Another Weibo user shared photos of an official National Day ceremony pigeon foot tag, as well as photos of birds being loaded onto the special vehicles, alongside the caption: “Our family’s little pigeon. I’m so proud! I’m at home waiting for you to come back.”
Seventy thousand “eco-friendly” biodegradable balloons were also released into the sky as part of the ceremony.
Calls to the Beijing Carrier Pigeon Association were not answered on a public holiday.
