(15 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Halle, Belgium – 6 January 2025
1. Various of racing pigeons in a loft at the Belgian Pigeon Racing Federation
2. SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Pascal Bodengien, Belgian Pigeon Racing Federation chairman:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOT 1++
"We currently face an exceptional spate of thefts. It is a recurring phenomenon in winter. Our members are confronted with theft. This year it is extreme. Not a week goes by without a theft somewhere."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ranst, Belgium – 13 January 2025
3. Pigeon loft
4. SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Frans Bungeneers, pigeon racer:
++OVERLAID BY SHOT 3++
“They broke open the pigeon lofts and tore down the garden shed."
5. Bungeneers inside pigeon loft
6. SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Frans Bungeneers, pigeon racer:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOT 7++
“They stole 60 adult pigeons. Including many top-quality pigeons. Most likely it was a commissioned theft. It was such an incredible blow for me. I can tell you honestly, I cried like a little boy because my life’s work was destroyed. I wanted to stop pigeon racing completely. I was a broken man."
7. Bungeneers holding a pigeon
8. Mid of pigeon loft
9. SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Frans Bungeneers, pigeon racer:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 7, 10 & 11++
“Look, it is actually a hobby. But in order to protect your top pigeons you need to install extra protection. Cameras, sensors, alarms. Constantly, when you go somewhere you have to look at your app to check the cameras, security. If the alarm detection goes off, then you have to go check the pigeon lofts. That gives you anxiety."
10. Various of security cameras
11. Various of pigeons inside loft
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Belgium’s once pastoral pastime of pigeon racing has come to this: invading drones swoop over lofts to look for security weaknesses. Laser detectors set off alarms at night and cameras linked live to mobile apps keep fanciers on edge, always.
That’s what you get when the fastest of fowl, which were, at best, the toast of local bars in a bygone era, have now turned into investment property that has already fetched 1.6 million euros for the most expensive bird coming out of the top pigeon racing nation in the world.
Now the sport is transfixed with an unprecedented spree of unsolved burglaries that has hit several of the best in the business.
"We currently face an exceptional spate of thefts," Pascal Bodengien, the head of the Belgian Pigeon Racing Federation told The Associated Press. "It is a recurring phenomenon in winter but this year it is extreme. Not a week goes by without a theft somewhere."
In one loft, it is an estimated 100,000 euros worth of pigeons, in another some more, in another less. Prices per bird, said Bodengien, can vary from 1,000 to 100,000 euros a bird and that is what thieves are after.
Exact statistics on losses are often not available since the reporting and police investigations are not centralized.
The emotional loss though often weighs heaviest of all. It involves daily care, over decades, and the rustling of feathers combined with the tranquil cooing often gives breeders a haven of peace in their bustling lives and a measure of pride if their fowl flies fast.
Frans Bungeneers is a breeder of champions, started at age 8 and is still continuing successfully, now into professional retirement.
His life got one of the biggest jolts in November 2016 when people broke into his garden shed and took away just about all his top-pigeons in a heist of some 60 overall.
AP Video by Mark Carlson and production by Raf Casert
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