Helping lost or injured racing pigeons get back home
If the pigeon does not have a ring on its leg, it is more likely a wild or feral pigeon rather than a racing pigeon.
As we are coming up to pigeon racing season again, pigeon fanciers will be taking their pigeons further away from their lofts for training, firstly to get their old birds fit, and secondly for the young birds to build up stamina and to orientate themselves to go back to the loft.
At this time of the year, there are thousands of pigeons being trained all over Gauteng and unfortunately, some do get injured or lost. There have been numerous enquiries on social media on how one goes about reporting these pigeons.
Local pigeon fancier Elaine Russell supplied some useful information for non-pigeon fanciers should a racing pigeon land at their residence tired and/or injured.
In the first instance, you will need to check that the pigeon has a coloured identification ring on its leg, for example, GPU (Gauteng Pigeon Union) ZA17 (year of issue) 13309 (ring number).
If the pigeon does not have a ring on its leg, it is more likely a wild or feral pigeon rather than a racing pigeon. If it is a seasoned racing pigeon, there may be an electronic ring on the pigeon’s other leg, which should have a sticker on it with the telephone number of the ring steward of the union or federation that the pigeon owner belongs to.
If there is no telephone number, you can report the pigeon at the following numbers:
GPU rings (Gauteng Pigeon Union): 078 510 8523
TRPF rings (Transvaal Racing Pigeon Federation): 011 609 6341
OERF rings (East Rand Racing Pigeon Federation): 083 969 6092
PWU (Pretoria Wedvlugduiwe Unie): 082 824 5989
Cyril’s rings: 011 918 5183
SOTVL rings (Suid-Oos Transvaal Posduif Unie): 082 712 0793
Any other rings can be reported to SANPO (South African National Pigeon Organisation) on 082 665 3676.
“Most lost pigeons are hungry and thirsty. Water is necessary before all else. Please ensure water is available in a deep dish. If you can provide food, then please give either birdseed, whole mealies or uncooked rice or lentils. Please do not feed racing pigeons bread,” Russell said.
“We, as pigeon fanciers, thank you in advance for taking the time and effort to look after and report our pigeons.”
