India releases Pigeon suspected of Spying for China

Indian police have cleared a pigeon suspected of being a Chinese spy and released it back into the wild after eight months in detention.

It was reported that the bird was captured near a port in Mumbai in May 2023.

The pigeon was found with two rings tied to its legs, carrying a message that appeared to be in Chinese.

Police said at the time: “The bird had two rings – one of copper and another of aluminium – tied to its leg, along with messages written in a Chinese-like script on the underside of both its wings.”

Police suspected that it was a spy pigeon and took it in before later sending it to Mumbai’s Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals.

The pigeon spent eight months in captivity.

The hospital asked police for permission to release the pigeon to no avail.

It was later revealed that the pigeon was an open-water racing bird from Taiwan that had escaped and flown to India.

PETA India intervened, contacted police and obtained the certificate needed for the bird’s release.

Police then approved the bird’s transfer to the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where doctors set it free on January 30, 2024. 

PETA India Director Poorva Joshipura said:

“Like all birds, pigeons should be free to soar in the skies, forage for food, and raise their young as a couple, cooperatively with their mates.

“PETA India is grateful to the veterinary hospital for caring for this pigeon for so many months and working to get her on her way back home.”

Throughout history, pigeons have been used in spying and combat, including by UK forces in World Wars One and Two to deliver messages.

A pigeon called Gustav brought the first news of D-Day back to the UK after a correspondent wrote a report and attached it to the bird while landing on Sword Beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944.

It is not the first time a bird has come under police suspicion in India.

In 2020, police in Indian-controlled Kashmir captured a pigeon belonging to a Pakistani fisher.

It was released after a probe concluded that the bird, which had flown across the heavily militarised border between the nuclear-armed countries, was not a spy.

In 2016, another pigeon was detained after it was allegedly found with a note that threatened Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.