Pigeon Racing The Deadliest Marathon

In April 2012, PETA released a 15-month undercover investigation—spanning five states—into some of the largest pigeon-racing operations in the U.S. Read more about the findings of our investigation.


Pigeon racers start training young birds by having them fly around outside their home lofts to familiarize them with the location. They then place the birds in crates and drive them away from home to release them for "training tosses," first close to home and then farther and farther. For a race, the birds are driven as many as 600 miles from their home to see if they are able to make it back faster than other birds. Released first thing in the morning, they fly out of desperation to get back to their mates and their eggs or hatchlings. When they return, sensors scan the radio-frequency identification chips in their leg bands and record their times on electronic race clocks. Their speeds are calculated based on the distance from the race release point to the racers' lofts, and the race results are sorted by average speed. The fastest birds win prize money.

"Young-bird" races (for birds under 1 year old) generally offer more prize money than "old-bird" races (for birds over 1 year old), especially high-stakes races that may pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital prizes. One race in South Africa attracts entrants from all around the world for its $1 million in prize money.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to see the PETA undercover video.

Urge the Attorney General to Investigate Cruel and Unlawful Pigeon Races!