Australian authorities will no longer kill the pigeon they originally thought traveled 8,000 miles from the US

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Australian authorities will no longer kill the pigeon they originally thought traveled 8,000 miles from the US
Joe, the US pigeon, was actually Australian.Kevin Celli-Bird/AP
  • Australia no longer intends to kill a pigeon thought to have flown there from the US over biosecurity concerns.
  • Joe the pigeon was wearing a leg tag that traced it to Alabama, but the American Racing Pigeon Union told Insider the blue band belongs to a different bird.
  • The pigeon is likely Australian, according to the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment.
  • The department said it doesn't plan on taking any further action.
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Australia no longer intends to kill a pigeon that was believed to have made an 8,000-mile journey across the world from the US.

Reports earlier this week suggested that Australian officials were concerned the bird - which was thought to be from Alabama - posed a biosecurity risk.

But the pigeon, nicknamed Joe, was likely Australian all along, according to a statement the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment shared with Insider on Friday.

"Following an investigation, the department has concluded that Joe the Pigeon is highly likely to be Australian and does not present a biosecurity risk," the statement said.

The Washington Post, Associated Press, and BBC, among other news outlets, reported on Thursday that Melbourne resident Kevin Celli-Bird found "the exhausted bird" in his backyard and that Australian authorities were planning to kill the animal because of "bird diseases" it might carry that pose a threat to native birds. (At the time of writing, the AP has updated its article in light of the new information shared by the ARPU.)

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According to Pakenham Gazette, a local news outlet, Celli-Bird made the discovery that the bird might be American after taking a closer look at the tag around its leg. He googled the number which led him to the American Racing Pigeon Union (ARPU), telling the AP that the union told him the bird belonged to someone in Montgomery, Alabama.

When contacted by Insider on Thursday, the ARPU said the blue band around the pigeon's leg was "counterfeit" and that the number belongs to a different bird.

"The band is counterfeit. The bird's home is in Australia somewhere, not the US," a representative for the union told Insider.

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Australia's Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment initially shared a statement with Insider on Thursday saying that "the only possible outcome to manage the biosecurity risk is humane destruction of the bird."

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In a follow-up statement shared on Friday, however, the department said that they are "satisfied that the bird's leg band is a fraudulent copy of a legitimate leg band."

The statement added that "no further action will be taken by the department in relation to this matter."

Insider was unable to reach Celli-Bird for comment.

The saga of Joe the pigeon began over the holidays

Australian authorities will no longer kill the pigeon they originally thought traveled 8,000 miles from the US
Joe had been getting stronger in Celli-Bird's backyard.Kevin Celli-Bird/AP

Celli-Bird found the pigeon in his backyard on December 26, 2020, according to the AP and Pakenham Gazette.

"It rocked up at our place on Boxing Day," Celli-Bird told the AP, speaking of the pigeon. "I've got a fountain in the backyard and it was having a drink and a wash. He was pretty emaciated so I crushed up a dry biscuit and left it out there for him."

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Celli-Bird says Joe has become stronger in the last couple of weeks and continues to hang out in his backyard with other birds.

He named the pigeon Joe after US president-elect Joe Biden.

"We had some friends here and were trying to come up with a name. We thought it had to be American and someone suggested Donald, but I just said no, no, absolutely no," he told Pakenham Gazette.

The number on the pigeon's leg tag was on the wrong bird

The ARPU told Insider that the number on Joe's tag that was reported by Celli-Bird belongs to a homing pigeon.

Australian authorities will no longer kill the pigeon they originally thought traveled 8,000 miles from the US
A homing pigeon perched on a birdhouse. The bird mentioned in the story is not pictured here.Getty Images

Homing pigeons, like the one pictured above, have striking strips across their body and wing, something that Joe does not appear to have in the photos published by the AP.

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A representative for the ARPU told Insider on Thursday that "a race handler who had the pigeon" had confirmed that the reference number noted on the tag around Joe's leg belonged to "a blue bar homing pigeon, not the bird you see in the photographs that have been published."

The ARPU told Insider on Friday that it is not sure what kind of pigeon Joe might be.

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