“Tombstones are only good for pigeons to sit on
Vladimir Lenin
Pigeons are often perceived as pests that tend to perch on window ledges, statues, and in Lenin’s view, tombstones. To be sure city pigeons (often feral) are typically seen as an urban environmental nuisance due to their droppings. However, pigeons are much more multidimensional. They have long colorful interactions with humans— as messengers, in sport, and as wartime heroes. Interestingly, Belgium is no stranger to this story line.
The ancient Egyptians used homing pigeons to deliver messages around 1350 B.C. The early Greeks thought pigeons were divine and used them in sport. The French and North African cultures have long viewed pigeons as a culinary delight. “Squab”— the tender meat of a young pigeon— is a delicacy with great cultural significance .The white plumed pigeon, better known as the dove, is revered as a sacred symbol.
For many within the Judaic, Christian, and Islamic faiths, the dove symbolizes peace, freedom, and love. The use of pigeons in Belgium and the surrounding area, has played no small part in the bird’s legacy. Allow me to explain…
The real-time progress of The Battle of Waterloo (1815) was delivered by homing pigeons to military authorities in England. Messages were flown from the battlefield south of Brussels to their nesting post near London. Military decision makers in England were kept abreast of enemy troop movements — all vital to military strategy.
Similarly, in the Franco-Prussian War(1870-1) besieged Parisians successfully used carrier pigeons to transmit important messages to Brussels, London, and other European cities. With postal service non-existent and all telegraph lines down, carrier pigeons were a life-blood of French communications. It is estimated one million messages traveled this way—establishing carrier pigeons as a viable military communication strategy.
Belgium has long been considered the gold standard for pigeon racing. The Great Pigeon Race (1818) is considered the first modern race as a sporting contest. Pigeons were released from up to 160km mile radius around Brussels and timed back to their home nest. So prized were racing pigeons that King Leopold of Belgium gifted the Royal Family some of the prized competitors. In 1850, Reuters, one of the world’s best known news agencies, started its European financial business by using pigeons. They used 45 trained birds to carry updated financial and stock market news from Aachen, Germany to Brussels. These birds traveled the 122km in a record breaking two hours— beating the railway service by four hours!
But it has been the heroic efforts of individual pigeons in war-time that have put Belgium into the pigeon forefront. Take Cher Ami for example: During the WW I battle near the Meuse River in southwestern Belgium, Cher Ami delivered a message alerting American forces to the location of the “Lost Battalion”—-the name given to an isolated and surrounded American Army division of 554 men. Cher Ami’s journey was not easy.
He was shot down by German soldiers but managed to take flight again —flying 40 km with a hole in his breast, blinded in one eye and with one leg hanging by a tendon. Cher Ami had been dispatched with a note attached that read: “ We are on the parallel road …artillery is dropping a directly on us …” Cher Ami became a hero to the infantry . Army medics worked hard to save his life amputating one leg but he ultimately died of his war injuries. Mounted by a taxidermist, Cher Ami is on display at Washington’s Smithsonian Museum.
During World War II Winkie the Pigeon was aboard a British torpedo bomber when, hit by enemy fire, it crashed into the North Sea off the coast of Belgium. The crew did not have time to radio an accurate position. Their only chance was to release Winkie—a homing pigeon.
She was set free and flew 193 km to the British mainland. Using calculations between the plane ditching, wind direction and the flight speed caused by oil on Winkie’s wings, the Brits were able to determine the downed plane’s position. The crew was miraculously rescued! Winkie became the toast of the airbase with a dinner held in her honor that recognizing her “ delivering a message under exceptional danger.”
The homing pigeon Mary of Exeter, is yet another case in point. She flew many WWII missions (too many to count!)—three of which she was wounded by enemy attacks. In one instance near the Belgian border with France she was wounded by enemy fire. She was able to return to the home nest in England with her neck and right breast ripped savagely open.
She recovered and began her missions two months later. Once again, she was severely wounded—-this time with the tip of her wing shot off taking multiple pellets to the chest. After yet another recovery, Mary of Exeter flew her final mission where she took shrapnel damaging the muscles to her neck. Her owners made a leather collar enabling her to hold her head up during Mary’s retirement.
In November 1945 Mary of Exeter was awarded The Dicken Medal—the highest award any animal can receive for bravery and devotion in military conflict.
Perhaps it is their colourful shared history that most pigeon fanciers are found in Belgium. It is a country full of pigeon clubs with almost every village having one . It is estimated that there are over 35,000 breeding locations that host dozens of events annually. In fact, New Kim, a female pigeon from Belgium, was recently sold for a record €1.9 m. Indeed, pigeons have a rich history with a wide variety of traits that make them one of the most intriguing species not only in Belgium, but on the planet!
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