At the outbreak of World War 2 thousands of Britain’s pigeon
fanciers gave their pigeons to the war effort to act as message carriers.
During the period of the war nearly a quarter of a million birds were used by
the army, the RAF and the Civil Defence Services including the police, the fire
service, Home Guard and even Bletchley Park. Pigeon racing was stopped and birds
of prey along the coasts of Britain were culled so that British pigeons could
arrive home unhindered by these predators. There were tight controls on the
keeping of pigeons and even rationing for pigeon community.
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