Will Australia Kill a Pigeon Named Joe?

International information retailers picked up the unusual story of a chicken named Joe, and the web marveled at its journey. The authorities mentioned they believed it had almost definitely hitched a trip on a cargo ship.

Brad Turner, secretary of the Australian National Pigeon Association, advised The Associated Press that he had heard of circumstances of Chinese racing pigeons reaching the Australian west coast aboard cargo ships.

The best long-distance flight recorded by a pigeon is claimed to have began in Arras, France, and led to Saigon, Vietnam, in 1931, in line with the web site Pigeonpedia. “The distance was 7,200 miles, and it took 24 days,” the web site says.

Mr. Celli-Bird thought it was all a bit of fine enjoyable, however the Australian authorities had a unique tackle the state of affairs. The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment mentioned Joe “posed a direct biosecurity risk to Australian bird life and our poultry industry.” It meant to euthanize him, native media reported.

Australia has notoriously strict biosecurity legal guidelines. In 2015, Barnaby Joyce, then agricultural minister, threatened to euthanize the actor Johnny Depp’s two Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, as a result of that they had not been declared to customs once they arrived in Queensland aboard a non-public jet. Luckily, preparations have been made for the 2 canine to be flown again to the United States. Amber Heard, then Mr. Depp’s spouse, later pleaded responsible in a Queensland court docket to offering false data on her passenger card after she and the canine landed on the Gold Coast to go to the actor. The couple supplied an apology.

Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack confirmed no mercy concerning the pigeon matter at a news conference, saying: “If Joe has come in a way that has not met out strict biosecurity measures, then bad luck, Joe. Either fly home or face the consequences.”

Faced with the prospect of Joe’s demise, Mr. Celli-Bird had second ideas concerning the identify he had given the chicken. “Last night I thought maybe we should have called him Donald,” he mentioned. “Maybe we could have gotten a presidential pardon or diplomatic immunity.”