Pigeon collared as a possible Chinese spy is freed after 8 months
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The veterinary hospital and animal rights group Peta said the police were not responsive and had forgotten about the bird.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH
NEW DELHI – Suspicion of foreign espionage, cursive messages in ancient Chinese, a sensitive microchip – and a suspect that could not be stopped at the border.
Mr Ravindra Patil, the assistant Mumbai police sub-inspector assigned to the case, was scratching his head for answers. But first, he had to find a place to lock up the unusual captive.
So he turned to a veterinary hospital in the Indian metropolis, asking it to retrieve a list of “very confidential and necessary” information about the suspect – a black pigeon caught lurking at a port where international vessels dock.
“The police never came to check the pigeon,” said Dr Mayur Dangar, the manager of the hospital.
After eight months, the bird was finally set free this week, its innocence of spying for China long confirmed, but the jail doors flung open only after a newspaper report, repeated letters to the police and intervention from an animal rights group.
The group, Peta India, celebrated what it called the end of a “wrongful imprisonment”.
Mr Meet Ashar, who leads Peta India’s cruelty response division, said the case had put the hospital’s staff in a dilemma: They couldn’t set it free because “it was such a high-profile case and the charge was so serious”.
The bird had been spotted by guards with the Central Industrial Security Force. “It was just sitting there, and it all looked suspicious to them – chip, and ring on the feet,” Mr Patil said. The guards informed the police.
The rings on the bird’s legs, including one that had a chip, were sent to a forensic sciences lab. “The chip had details of the location coding – what it is, where it has come from,” Mr Patil said. “Nothing else turned out suspicious.”
He concluded that the pigeon was a racing bird from Taiwan. In speaking to the guards at the port, he learnt that Taiwanese ships were among those that docked there. He deduced that the bird had probably reached Mumbai on one of the ships.
Just why the bird remained in lock-up after Mr Patil had completed his investigation is a matter of disagreement. The hospital and Peta said the police were not responsive and had forgotten about the bird. Mr Patil said the hospital had misread instructions that the pigeon should be freed once in good-enough health.
After the police finally responded, it was set free on Jan 30. NYTIMES
