Pigeon’s life will be spared in Australia due to fake leg band

It turns out the bird which had been declared a biosecurity risk after officials believed it had arrived from the US was wearing a fake leg band, according to the Associated Press.

The band suggested the bird, which was found in a Melbourne backyard on Dec. 2, was a racing pigeon that had fled from Oregon two months earlier.

Australia s Agriculture Department, which handles biosecurity, said Thursday it considered the bird a disease risk and planned to kill it.

But Deone Roberts, sport development manager for the Oklahoma-based American Racing Pigeon Union, said Friday that the band number belongs to a blue bar pigeon in the US.

The bird band in Australia is counterfeit and not traceable, Roberts said. They do not need to kill him.

Authorities Down Under agreed.

via nypost.com