Photos: ‘Pigeons’ Hold ‘Die-In’ at the Tower of London

For Immediate Release:

16 July 2020

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

Photos: ‘Pigeons’ Hold ‘Die-In’ at the Tower of London

PETA Calls On the Queen to Cut Ties With Pigeon Racing After Exposé Reveals Royal Birds Die at International Race

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) this year – gathered in front of the Tower of London and, together, dropped “dead”.

Photos from the action are available here, here, and here.

A just-released PETA US investigation revealed that pigeons die by the thousands at the SAMDPR. Every one of the eight birds sent by the Queen to participate in the 2020 SAMDPR died 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 to each other, including zoonotic ones (i.e. those that are able to be passed from animals to humans). Those who survive are forced into long training sessions under the blazing South African sun, where many become disorientated and die from exhaustion, dehydration, or starvation. Less than a quarter of the pigeons who originally enter the race series complete it.

“Pigeons are caring parents, devoted mates, and extraordinary navigators who deserve better than to be raced to their deaths,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “PETA is respectfully urging Her Majesty to cut ties with this horrific ‘sport’.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview.

High-resolution images can be downloaded here. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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