Last Tuesday, June 13, 2013, was National Pigeon Appreciation Day, and pigeons and people rallied at the State Capital in Sacramento, California.  Both showed up to demonstrate against the release of domesticated pigeons for money, sport, and entertainment.

What is National Pigeon Appreciation Day?  President Woodrow Wilson created National Pigeon Appreciation Day to honor the 150,000 or more pigeons that served this country in WWI and WWII as messengers and spies.  President Wilson chose June 13th since this was the day pigeon war hero, Cher Ami, died.  Cher Ami was one of 600 birds owned and flown by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in France during World War I.  Cher Ami delivered twelve important messages within the American sector at Verdun.  Cher Ami had her most dangerous mission during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

Cher Ami was stationed with the 77th Division, referred to as the “Lost Battalion,” in the Argonne Forest.  The Lost Battalion is the name given to the nine companies of the US 77th Division, roughly 554 men, isolated by German forces during World War I after an American attack in the Argonne Forest in October 1918.  They found themselves cut off from the rest of the American troops, under heavy bombardment.  The battalion was trapped behind German lines and unable to make their position known.  Soon, American bombs began falling on the Lost Battalion.  Unaware that the soldiers had been trapped in their position, America was dropping bombs on their own soldiers.

American Major Charles Whittlesey released a pigeon to fly to headquarters to alert them that they were bombing their own people.  The pigeon was shot down by German sharp shooters.  The Americans watched as almost all of their pigeons were shot down by the Germans until they were left with only one pigeon, Cher Ami.  Major Whittlesey attached a note to Cher Ami’s leg, writing, “We are along the road parallel to 276.4.  Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it.”

Cher Ami dodged German bullets, giving the Lost Battalion hope until she was shot through the chest and fell to the ground.  Against all odds, she returned to the sky to deliver the message.  She flew at record speeds, covering 25 miles in a little less than a half an hour.  She arrived at the American base with the message, alive but badly wounded.  Army medics were able to save Cher Ami, but she lost her right leg and was permanently blinded.  Due to Cher Ami’s trip, the bombardment on the Lost Battalion stopped and the remaining 194 men survived and safely returned to American lines.

Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government to honor bravery on the battlefield.  Cher Ami was also award the Dicken Medal, the animal equivalent of the Purple Heart.  The Dicken Medal is a bronze medallion, bearing the words “For Gallantry” and “We Also Serve” within a laurel wreath, carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown, and pale blue.  It is awarded for “conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving in military conflict.”  Pigeons have received the 32 Dicken Medals, the most of any animal.  (Dogs have received 18; horses 3, and 1 to a ship’s cat.)

Is there really a “rescue community for pigeons”?  Yes.  There are many groups dedicated to rescuing domesticated pigeons who have been released for money, sport, or entertainment and have been lotto lucky enough to not starve or be preyed upon.  Those groups (e.g., Palomacy in Northern California) try to find homes for these domesticated birds.  The rescue community also stopped one of the cruelest and most brutally one-sided battles in Hegins, Pennsylvania:  the annual Labor Day pigeon shoot, a gory spectacle going back to 1933, where approximately 200 gunners take turns opening fire on thousands of birds released from traps in the wide grassland of the village park.

Until the mid-1980s, the Hegins shoot was a local and unnoticed event. Then such regional groups as the Pennsylvania Animal Protection Association and the Pittsburgh Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals began staging protests against the violence.  The demonstrations grew larger annually, until more than 1,000 members of animal welfare and animal rights groups went to Hegins.  Ultimately, such activism (and many jailings of protesters) shut down the Hegins pigeon shoot.  Live-bird target shooting has now been outlawed in most states where it was once accepted as a sport.  Sadly, Pennsylvania remains 1 of 4 holdout states that let the blood keep flowing.

What are domesticated pigeons?  And how are they used for money, sport, and entertainment?  “Domesticated” is defined as “adapted over time (as by selective breeding) from a wild or natural state to life in close association with and to the benefit of humans.”  A domesticated animal must be raised and cared for by a human being, as it has no survival skills to live in the wild.  Yet, domesticated pigeons are routinely bred in captivity, raised and care for by man, to simply be released for money.  That occurs in the wedding and funeral industries that promote “dove” (white pigeon) releases to honor their love or loved ones.  Dove release companies often use ringneck doves or white King pigeons, neither of which can home.  With no survival skills, they suffer and starve or are preyed upon by hawks or other predators.  Nearly all die.

Domesticated pigeons are also raced for large cash prizes.  Competing birds are taken from their lofts and driven hundreds (and up to 1,100) miles away and released to fly home.  The time taken and the distance are recorded and the fastest bird is declared the winner.  Only about 4 in every 10 racing pigeons make it home due to the many hazards of flying that distance:  weather, smoke, hawks, disorientation and exhaustion.  And then there are pigeons that roll in the sky for our entertainment.  Roller pigeons are tragically selectively inbred for their genetic inclination to seize.  These seizures cause the bird to fall uncontrollably out of the sky, which to our human eyes looks like flipping backwards in flight.  Roller pigeons are used in competitions and their performances are judged.

This year, there was quite a bit of press about a novel abuse of pigeons:  dying them for gender reveal announcements.  This has become quite vogue.   A couple in New York City died a white fledgling pink to tell the world that she was having a girl.  She released the pink pigeon in a park in Manhattan.  Miraculously, it survived long enough to be rescued and taken to the Wild Bird Fund in New York City.  The Wild Bird Fund called it, Flamingo. It died several days later from the dye, exhaustion, and starvation.

Pigeons have given a great deal to this country.  They are our veterans.  It’s time to honor them and respect them as we do other domesticated animals.