Only when you think you’ve seen and heard it all, then Boom! A Pigeon gets axed for being a spy. A Chinese Spy. If you said wow! or laughed out loud, know that you’re not alone.
The bird has indeed become the word. The first question that comes to mind is, which government would do this? Fingers then point towards the United States. It has to be right?. And a tiny investigation ensued
🐦 What actually happened?
• In May 2023, police in Mumbai, India found a pigeon near a port that had two metal rings on its legs and what they thought was Chinese-style writing on its wings. Suspicious of espionage, authorities took the bird into custody.
• The pigeon was kept for about eight months, first by police and then at the Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals in the city while investigators tried to figure out what was going on.
🧠 Why people thought it was a spy
With tensions high between India and China over border disputes and other diplomatic issues, the presence of a bird with mysterious markings fueled speculation that it might be being used for espionage — even though there was no real evidence of any spying technology.
🐦 What the investigation found
After months of inquiry, officials concluded that the pigeon was not a spy at all. Instead, it was likely an open-water racing pigeon from Taiwan that had gotten lost and ended up in India.
🕊️ Release and reaction
With the spying suspicion dropped, animal welfare groups like PETA India pushed for its release. The pigeon was finally set free in January/February 2024 — reportedly in good health.
🪶 Why this happened
• Pigeon racing is a real sport in parts of Asia; birds are marked with rings and sometimes messages or codes for identification.
• In a climate of heightened security concerns, officials erred on the side of caution — but in this case the bird was just a lost racing pigeon, not a feathered spy.
So yes, the story really happened — but it wasn’t some covert avian intelligence program, just a misidentified pigeon that spent far too much time in captivity before being cleared and released.
