This post was originally published on South China Morning Post.
Bird in Australia could escape death as ‘US leg band’ comes under scrutiny
A pigeon that Australia declared a possible biosecurity risk may escape death after the authenticity of its leg band identifying it as a US racing bird was thrown in doubt.The blue band suggested the bird found in a Melbourne backyard on December 26 was a US racing pigeon that had left the American state of Oregon two months earlier.On that basis, Australian authorities on Thursday said they considered the bird a disease risk and planned to kill it.A US bird travelled 13,000km to Melbourne…