PETA’s ‘Pigeons’ Hold ‘Die-In’ at the Tower of London
Today, wearing pigeon masks and chanting, “Pigeon racing kills,” eight PETA supporters – each representing one of the pigeons sent by the Queen to the South African Million Dollar Pigeon Race (SAMDPR) every year – gathered in front of the Tower of London and, together, dropped “dead”.
A just-released PETA US investigation revealed that pigeons die by the thousands at the SAMDPR. This year, all eight birds sent by the Queen to compete in the gruelling race died.
They all perished during the quarantine period, when stressed birds from all over the world are grouped together in the same loft with the potential to transmit diseases, including zoonotic ones, to one another.
Those who survive are forced into long training sessions under the blazing South African sun, in which many become disorientated and die from exhaustion, dehydration, or starvation.
Less than a quarter of the pigeons who are entered into the race series, which pigeon fanciers call a “slaughter race”, complete it.
Pigeons Need Your Help
Pigeons are caring parents, devoted mates, and extraordinary navigators who deserve better than to be raced to their deaths. That’s why PETA is respectfully urging Her Majesty to cut ties with this horrific “sport”.
Please sign our petition asking the Queen to end her involvement in pigeon racing and convert her Sandringham loft from a pigeon-breeding mill into a sanctuary for lost, injured, and unwanted pigeons.
