RACING PIGEON NEWSLETTER ISSUE 261

In This Issue:

Pigeon racing

Adrian Human
Game, set, home

- Pigeon racing is a national obsession in Taiwan.
by Erling Hoh - Geographical

Pigeon racing is a national obsession in Taiwan. But far from a pastime of gentile amateurs, it is big business, fuelled by the Taiwanese mania for gambling

JURGEN BAYER IS A SILENT MAN. HE WORKS HIS MAGIC IN A different way. The world's most famous pigeon whisperer, he examines the wings, eyes, frame and throat of cocks and hens to find the perfect combination, bringing fame and fortune to the bird owners who can afford his expertise. In Taiwan, where pigeon racing has been national obsession for the past 40 years, Herr Bayer is nothing less than a living legend. When, at last, he does speak, the island's pigeon fanciers hang on his every word.

On a whirlwind tour of Taiwan last month, Bayer matched hundreds of couples, while basking in the adulation of his happy clients at one 14-course banquet after another. One of his clients, a T'aipei restaurateur, recently won the first 50 places in a big race from Guangzhou to Shantou in China using pigeons bred with Herr Bayer's uncanny selections. And a few years ago, a prominent Japanese business leader, having won the regional championship with birds he had bought from Bayer, invited him and his wife for a two week stay in Japan. "The treatment we received was unbelievable," he says.

One of the stops on Herr Bayer's Taiwan tour was a loft in Ba Li, north of T'aipei. Here, on a drizzly, melancholy Sunday morning, a few dozen pigeon fanciers awaited the return of their prized birds, released from a boat 273 kilometres off Taiwan's northern coast at 6.30am that same morning. At 9.04am, pigeon number 6,783, owned by Hsieh San-lang, a veteran fancier of 43 years, circled two laps before making a nose-diving descent into the loft, where a scanner recorded his victory and computed his speed at a swift 1.772 kilometres per minute.

Million-dollar wings At four in the afternoon, Lu Fang-yuan's second bird had not yet returned. "My pigeons are very rotten," Lu complained to his old friend Mr Hsieh. For his victory, Hsieh, a welder by profession, received a cheque for 50,000 Taiwan dollars (1,000 [pounds sterling]), far short of the two-million-dollar prize money he won in a pigeon race in 1990. Grinning happily, Hsieh seemed content. Early on, he knew that when it came to racing pigeons, the gods were on his side. In his very first race in 1958, his pigeon was only bird out of a field of 700 to return at all. "I got all the prizes," he recalls. "A bicycle, a sewing machine, a radio ..."


"The Taiwanese are the greatest pigeon racers in the world," says Amadeus David Tao, a German pigeon broker who arrived in Taiwan 12 years ago to study Chinese, and got into pigeon racing to make ends meet. He has hosted the satellite television programme Racing Pigeons Around the World on Taiwan's High Energy Channel, which has some three million viewers, organises the annual pigeon auction `World Auction of the Dream League', and brokers deals between Taiwanese pigeon fanciers and European owners to bring the best birds in Europe to Taiwan for breeding. "Hong Kong people bet on horses," says Amadeus. "The Taiwanese bet on pigeons. And the pigeon betting is much, much larger than the horse betting."

Gang warfare

He could be right. When it comes to gambling, the Taiwanese are perhaps the only people who can rival the passion of their Cantonese neighbours. That virtually all gambling in Taiwan is outlawed only increases the itch. In Hsin Hsing, outside the southern city Kaohsiung a couple of years ago, 400 million Taiwan dollars (8million [pound sterling]) were wagered on a single race. Dedicated pigeon fanciers can pay up to four million Taiwan dollars (80,000 [pound sterling]) for a prized bird. Criminal gangs regularly kidnap racing pigeons, demanding 2,500-5,000 Taiwan dollars (50-100 [pound sterling]) for their safe return. And in October, six people in the city of Ilan stood accused of having forged chops and documents to request an emergency medical transportation by helicopter in order to win a pigeon race from Ilan to Chunghua.

Liu Wan-lai, Secretary General of the Asian Federation of Pigeon Associations, says the number of racing pigeon owners in Taiwan has fallen from around 100,000 in the 1980s to some 20,000 today. "The main reasons are urbanisation and industrialisation,' he says. "City dwellers simply don't have any place to erect a loft for their pigeons." Liu also laments the decline in the combination of skills needed to breed and train a pigeon. In the old days, many owners raised their own birds, a craft that requires experience and patience, as well as a few secret potions and tricks. "Training a pigeon is a science," says Liu. Nowadays, more and more owners entrust their pigeons to commercial lofts such as the one in Ba Li, where all the birds are fed and trained in a uniform manner. "It's a communism of sorts," says one of the owners.

The demise of the craft notwithstanding, the Taiwanese remain the most fervent pigeon racers in the world, and the main reason is gambling. Between the island's 160-plus private clubs, hundreds of millions of pounds are up for grabs each year. The betting starts two months before the races, when the designated bank accounts begin to swell. In July last year, a racing official in T'aipei absconded to the mainland with 20 million Taiwan dollars in betting money just days before the race.

Kidnap and murder

But the pigeon fanciers greatest foes are the pigeon kidnappers. On race day, the kidnappers have been known to erect nets up to 50 metres high and 100 metres wide in the inaccessible valleys and gorges between `Taiwan's many mountains, firing rockets into the air to scare the pigeons into the net. To thwart the kidnappers, more and more races have been held out at sea in recent years, but now the kidnappers snatch the birds during training sessions instead. Last September, pigeon fanciers in Kaohsiung apprehended three suspected kidnappers and brought them in for questioning. It grew into a lynching, and when the dust had settled, three men were injured, and one man lay dead.

- Adrian Human of Petersfield
By Keith Mott

Adrian Human is from a very successful pigeon racing family, with his father, Derek Human, being a recent NFC Tarbes winner and his grandfather also being a very good fancier many years ago. Adrian was born in Alton, Hampshire and told me, ‘I have been around pigeons all my life, going to various pigeon events with my father, such as Reading Cattle Market in the days when you queued for one to two hours for NFC race marking. In 1991 I moved to a house next door to dad, I was working in Portsmouth so started training his pigeons every day. At the time I kept British finches, which I housed in several aviaries and a bird room. After a while working with my dad’s pigeons, my interest was re-kindled and I changed to pigeon racing and built a new loft. My first pigeons came from Louella and my dad. I joined Alton club for young birds in 1992 and won my first race from Seaton and I went on to win every young bird race except one, winning the young bird average in the club. I thought pigeon racing was easy, how wrong I was’.

Adrian is only really interested in long distance racing and all the pigeon management is set up for the Tarbes and Palamos Nationals. His best pigeon is the champion blue chequer cock, ‘Ransdean Reliance’, and he is bred down from the very best Davenport / Cattrysse bloodlines of Champion ‘Game Lady’. This brilliant 600 mile cock was raced on the natural system, performing best sitting ten day old eggs, and won the BBC ‘Spanish Diploma’ winning 19th, 44th, 51st, 108th open Palamos (657 miles), and 16th open Barcelona (676 miles). He was recorded in race time from the longest BBC event five times and recorded 16th open Barcelona as a ten year old. This wonderful cock has proved to be a champion in the breeding loft, producing several premier long distance racers, including ‘The Bordeaux Cock’, ‘The Section Hen’ and a ‘Spanish Diploma’ winner for his father, Derek Human. A fantastic cock!

Adrian races his birds on natural and pairs up the first sunny weekend in February, with his race birds choosing their own mate. Training starts the second week in April, usually from Hayling Island, about 15 miles south of the loft, moving to the New Forest about 30 miles down the road and sometimes the birds are singled up. His Palamos birds are usually singled up late in the evening at around 8pm. Adrian feeds ‘PLX’ mixture early in the season changing to ‘Irish’ mixture as the distance moves up and Peanuts are fed quite heavily once the distance is over 250 miles. He says, his favourite nest condition for the long distance events depends on the individual bird, as they are all different. His present race loft is a 42ft Petron, with Hermes auto boxes and it was a gift from his dad when he downsized his loft, when he moved into a new house. It is well vented with sliding ceiling panels so the airflow can be adjusted and tells me he has used deep litter when time was short, but I like to scrape out. The main family keep are Cattrysse, because over the years these birds have done well for many different people. Adrian and Derek share the 20 pairs of stock birds, which are kept at Adrian’s home and these are nornally paired up at Christmas. The stock loft is 16ft x 8ft, with a massive aviary and the main feeding is Brian Wall’s ‘Breeding’ mixture. Adrian and his dad have one youngster each out of each nest. New stock birds introduced only come in from good long distance lofts who race small teams of birds, like Adrian. His best breeder in the stock loft is ‘Ramsdean Reliance’, as he has bred a ‘Spanish Diploma’ winner for his dad, and he is the sire of many premier racers for the Human lofts. He usually keep 40 young birds each season and half of them go on darkness, and once training starts they are fed on half ‘PLX’ and half ‘Young Bird’ mixture. They are usually parted before racing starts and allowed together on Friday lunch time of marking day. They must have at least two Channel races, and must go to either BBC Lamballe or the NFC young bird race.

Adrian’s father, Derek Human and I go back many years, starting in the early 1980’s when he had his wins in the Central Southern Classic Flying Club and he came to my home in Claygate to have his young bird champions photographed, and I covered his successes in the fancy press. Derek is a very likable guy, who has always got a smile on his face and along with his pigeon racing son, Adrian, is always up for a laugh. I for one was over the moon to hear the great news that he had won the greatest prize in long distance pigeon racing in the 2007 season, 1st open N.F.C. Tarbes Grand National and did it in fantastic style. His wonderful champion, ‘Any Distance’, won 1st open Tarbes (540 miles) with 3,477 birds competing and won the strong Section B. by 133 y.p.m. clear. A brilliant performance at the highest level! This game five year old Cattrysse blue chequer hen was sent to Tarbes feeding a nine day old youngster and has won a N.F.C. Certificate of Merit Award, previously winning: 8th section, 70th open N.F.C. Bordeaux and 11th section, 71st open N.F.C. Pau. Champion ‘Any Distance’ has had a brilliant racing career, winning other premier positions including: 1st. section, 16th. open N.F.C. Chale, 15th section, 251st open N.F.C. Fougeres and 19th setion, 369th open N.F.C. Sennon Cove. A champion racer in the truest sence of the word, winning at at the very highest level and as her name surgesses, at any distance! Derek says she was sent to Tarbes in her favourite nest condition, feeding a baby, and the squeaker she was feeding when she won the National was donated to the N.F.C. Young Bird Auction and raised ?470 for the club. In the early part of the season she was seperated from her mate to hold her moult and then was sent to the very hard C.S.C.F.C. Cholet race, where she scored in the first few in the open result, and then was repaired so she had a youngster for the Tarbes National.

Adrian told me about the early days and said, ‘I have always had an interest in the long distance races and the first birds I had in the beginning were the Cattrysse and black Krauths. When I first started with young birds, all those years ago I had a great start, but it didn’t continue. It was my lack of knowledge not the birds! My first ever training toss was a disaster, taking 40 young birds from two miles and I let them go, and watched them go over my loft and away towards London. Three hours later I had one pigeon back and by the end of the second day I had them all back in the loft. My first loft was brick built, with a tiled roof out of material I managed to acquire from various sources’.

Adrian is a builder and always has been since leaving school. He says, ‘my wife will feed the pigeons while I am away and let them out if I ask her, and one time she clocked a hen from San Sebastian, which ended up 13th open from a disastrous race. My son, Jack, likes to go to pigeon club and has a few young birds to follow, which I usually loose for him! My best performances are; 1st section, 8th open BBC Bordeaux, 2nd Section, 5th open BBC Bordeaux, 5th section, 46th open NFC Bordeaux, 8th section, 47th open NFC San Sebastian, 5th section, 11th open BBC Bordeaux and my best achievement in pigeons is my ‘Spanish Diploma’ winner ‘Ransdean Reliance’, whom has gone on to win a Gold Salver for four times Palamos, and a Crystal Vase for four times Palamos at 10 years old. He holds no offices in the sport, but likes to help at marking stations. Adrian maintains, the management of the sport has its downsides, but it is in a no-win situation with most pigeon people and thinks the sport has progressed despite there being fewer members. He thinks fanciers are more dedicated and professional these days and tells me the top fancier in his area must be his dad, putting up phenomenal performances with only a very small team of pigeons. Two other fancier he rates very highly is Dave Wells of Bordon who can get pigeons from any distance with no fancy methods and Jimmy Wearn whose dedication is beyond belief! Late breds are only taken from the best racers and parts his pigeons after the last young bird race to get the moult under way.

There you have it, Adrian Human, the 650 mile specialist! The London & South East Classic Club has a new email address, so if you need to contain our secretary, Terri Hoskin, it’s lsecc.terri@ntlworld.com I can be contacted with any pigeon comments on telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.

- Game, set, home
By Sovon Manna - The Telegraph

This morning, Subhankar Mondal woke up early. It is race day. But no, he isn’t heading towards the Calcutta Race Course. Rather, he is going up to his terrace. An observer is waiting with an electronic stopwatch to mark the time of his pigeon’s return. Mondal’s pigeon took flight yesterday morning from Delhi and is supposed to land in a couple of hours.

Welcome to the fascinating world of pigeon racing which revolves around the mysterious homecoming instincts of homing pigeons or homers. Homers are like race horses. Nobody really knows how pigeons released hundreds of miles away always find their way back home. And it’s hard to believe that they only come home just because they mark it out as their ‘own’ territory for life.

Of the three pigeon racing clubs in Calcutta, Calcutta Racing Pigeon Organisation (CRPO) in Manicktala and Calcutta Racing Pigeon Club (CRPC) in Tangra conduct pigeon races on a regular basis. Starting end-December, birds less than a year old are taken to places close to Asansol, Hazaribag and Gaya by train. From there, a club official sets them free so that they can fly back home. Older and experienced pigeons are set free from distant places like Mughalsarai, Allahabad, Kanpur and Delhi.

Experts believe that pigeons develop a keen sense of direction by following the position of the sun, stars and even the path of the earth’s magnetic field that ‘draws’ or ‘pulls’ them home from over hundreds of miles. And the process is facilitated on a sunny day. Says Mondal, “A sunny day is well suited for a pigeon race as pigeons can easily recognise their destination route.”

Some pigeons are better at long-distance racing, while others are good sprinters. To manoeuvre through the obstruction caused by the wind blowing in the opposite direction, pigeons move sideways while flying. “Pigeons of a good bloodline can fly a 600-mile race in a day. If a racing homer is released at 6 am from Allahabad, it reaches its home in Calcutta by evening. So you can imagine the speed at which they fly vis-a-vis their sense of direction,” says Bablu Nandy, president of CRPO.

“Small wonder that pigeons were considered ideal couriers in times of war and peace,” says Rony Das of Batanagar. Once the pigeons return, observers on the rooftops match their colour, sex, number and identification band tied to their feet with the registration details to confirm the authenticity of the pigeon’s ownership. The pigeon, which clocks the lowest time to enter its own room is declared the winner and its owner is presented with a trophy and a certificate.

On a sunny day, ‘performing’ pigeons participate in colourful and exciting aerial exhibitions of tumbling, rolling and spinning, displaying their diving ability and aerial acrobatic skills. Says Debabrata Biswas of Kasba, “A show pigeon can rapidly turn over backwards like a spinning ball or do a series of somersaults.” But weather conditions influence the flight of the birds and the altitude at which they can fly. “It can be one to 20 minutes or one hour and sometimes two or three times in the day. And it is always exciting to watch how they fly today as compared to yesterday,” he says.

Gerowaz — a special group of pigeons — are allowed to fly short distances from their homes, for practice. “They learn to recognise the ‘home-route’ while flying with the wind and then flying back home against it,” says Nemai Chand Mitra of Thanthania in north Calcutta.

Every year on January 23, a hoopla of flying gerowaz pigeons is organised, informs Amar Chakraborty of Bagbazar Pigeon Association. Thousands of pigeon-fanciers flock to the Maidan and free their stock of pigeons. But not all of them return home, as one flock of pigeons often poaches on another set, taking them along in the direction of their home.

Of late, more and more youngsters are getting hooked on to this sport, points out Sanjay Das, a senior member of CRPC, adding, “We may soon tie up with pigeon-racing associations of Chennai to organise an east-south competition.” The love for this game is understandable as Tapas Kumar Paul of Beniatola in north Calcutta says, “This is a sport that keeps you looking up all the time. For us, the rooftop is a serene place, we love to go there to de-stress.”

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