August 22, 2009
CBC NEWS
A wayward Nova Scotia racing pigeon that defected to New Brunswick over the weekend is now missing.
The white pigeon - known as Pigeon number 21368 – was released Wednesday, south of Moncton, and should have made its way back home to Truro within hours.
But as of Thursday afternoon, nearly 24 hours later, it still hadn't arrived, said owner Dan Archibald. He’s not worried though.
“If they get thirsty they will go down and get a drink of water, and if they see a grain field that's being harvested they'll go down,” he said.
“We've had birds come back a day or two late, they're lovely and fat and obviously well nourished.”
Archibald released the bird in Bathurst on Saturday and expected it home in Truro by suppertime that night.
Instead, the pigeon spent most of the week at Susan Thompson's farm in Prosser Brook, about 30 kilometres south of Moncton. Thompson discovered the pigeon outside her kitchen door on Sunday, during Hurricane Bill.
Thompson tried releasing the bird on Tuesday, but it came back. So she tried again Wednesday afternoon and hasn’t seen the bird since.
The young pigeon has raced successfully from Miramichi, Moncton and Amherst, said Archibald. It may have just decided to settle in New Brunswick, he said.
“If he's made up his mind, once we let them go we don't have a lot of control,” said Archibald. “So at this point, he knows where is, he just may be a little bit independent and quite happy to be free.
“New Brunswick may be a fine place for him,” he added.
If the bird does make it home, Archibald plans to break one of the rules of pigeon racing and give the bird a name before it's won its first race. He will name it “Susan's Boy,” after Susan Thompson, who took care of his pet, he said.
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