Pigeons race: 10,000 pigeons mysteriously vanishes during the race

Peterborough: Over 10,000 pigeons mysteriously vanished during a race in Peterborough on Saturday, in an ‘unprecedented’ event. Concerned pigeon fanciers are asking for assistance after many birds have not yet returned.

Pigeon racing is the release of specially trained homing pigeons from one place to another. Usually, they will return to their homes over a carefully measured distance.

The racing requires a specific breed of pigeon that is bred for the sport – the Racing Homer.

According to reports, the birds went missing from the 273-kilometer race, which one breeder described as ‘one of the worst racing days in its history.’ Some owners said that a ‘solar storm’ above the clouds may have disoriented the birds and thrown off their homing sense.  Nearly 9,000 of them were from the North East of England. It is now calculated that 40% of them didn’t return home.

The number of missing birds has not been calculated in full. However, it is estimated that 5,000-10,000 pigeons are missing.

Richard Sayers, who lives 170 miles away from the race, said 300 birds disappeared from aloft, where pigeon racing is a way of life. He has now requested to the public to give shelter to the missing birds.

‘Out there are tens of thousands of racing pigeons that are tired and lost, the static atmospheric conditions are more than likely to blame and resulted in the majority not finding their way home, there’s a chance someone reading this will have one land in their garden or workplace if you do then please don’t ignore it, put down a bowl of water and some seed/rice to help it on its way, you’ll know it’s a race bird as it will have rings around its feet,’ Sayers wrote on Facebook.

‘Most of the breeders I’m talking to are blaming the atmospheric conditions, possibly a solar storm above the clouds that created static in the atmosphere, but no one really knows,’ he added.

Birds went missing from different areas. Approximately 3,500 to 5,500 birds disappeared from the North-East and roughly 1,000 birds went missing from the East Cleveland Federation.