2017 will go down in history as the year in which avian influenza restricted pigeon racing worldwide.
To prevent fanciers from such future suffering, the international pigeon racing federation FCI organizes a crowdfunding campaign which is to prove that racing pigeons are not susceptible to bird flu.
1. Why crowdfunding?
The International Federation for the Pigeon Sport (FCI) aims to save the Pigeon Sport from the continuous threat of Avian Influenza outbreaks, also known as bird flu, by scientifically proving that racing pigeons are not susceptible to the disease.
2. Context?
In recent years Europe has been plagued by outbreaks of bird flu in almost all countries. These outbreaks are increasingly endangering the existence of the pigeon sport in all of its aspects. When bird flu breaks out, government authorities uniformly halt any activities that are related to racing pigeons.
The following activities are forbidden by law whenever there is an outbreak:
- Flying and racing pigeons
- Organizing pigeon exhibitions
- Transporting pigeons
There is, however, no scientific proof that racing pigeons have ever contracted or spread bird flu. On the contrary, scientific studies indicate that racing pigeons are unlikely to ever suffer from this disease, let alone carry and spread it around. Nonetheless, governments are taking zero chances and uniformly group all pigeons and birds together in the same risk category. It falls to all of us who are involved in pigeon racing to prove our governments wrong and free our beloved pigeon sport from any legal and veterinary constraints that are currently imposed on it without any real scientific basis.The FCI would like to continuously be at the forefront of this fight.
3. How?
In order to prove to the lawmakers that racing pigeons are not susceptible to the current bird flu disease(s) it is the FCI’s intent to start up a project in which the racing pigeon will be tested for bird flu immunity. This project will be organized in a professional, objective and scientific manner.
It will not be an easy fight as the bird flu virus continues to mutate and change over the course time. It may therefore be necessary again in the future to test new strains of avian influenza as well to prove that the racing pigeon continues to be unsusceptible to all types and strains of bird flu.
A project like this, however, is very expensive and the FCI does not have the funds to finance it. We are therefore reaching out to the entire pigeon community and to all who day in, day out are involved in the pigeon racing sport. If all of us make a small contribution we can truly achieve the freedom that our pigeon sport deserves.
4. Goal
In the next 30 days we aim to raise the €60.000 necessary to do the tests and hopefully get the results we need to make the changes the pigeon sport so desperately needs.The FCI has created a new FCI Fund for Scientific Research on the Racing Pigeon in which the funds will be collected.
You can make your donation by clicking on the link
https://www.gofundme.com/savethepigeonsport
Let's save the pigeon sport together!
Thank you!
