| Author: The Mercury | Title: In the News - Pigeon passion lasts a lifetime |
| Date: 2005-01-19 15:46:44 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
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For 50 years, Barry Jensen has bred, trained and raced pigeons - but he still does not know what magic of nature keeps his birds returning to their home loft.
However, he knows almost as much about the birds as a human being can.
Mr Jensen, secretary of the Moonah Homing Society, is one of about 700 Tasmanian pigeon fanciers.
"Our numbers have dwindled in the past 20 years or so and there were once thousands of us in Tasmania," he said during an exhibition of all things to do with pigeons in the courtyard of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery yesterday.
Part of the TMAG's school holiday program, the session was attended by dozens of children and parents.
He said success depended on an experienced trainer plus, for the birds, correct diet and good breeding.
"I started when I was nine and my father, who lived to 99 years, was involved most of his life," he said. "I spend a lot of time in the loft and know all my birds individually - it's a bit like training racehorses, I suppose."
The homing instinct of pigeons could be nurtured he said, adding: "I lived in three areas of the northern suburbs in four years and after a week or two of adjustment, the birds learn to return to a different place."
A well-trained bird with good stamina and speed can cover the ground faster than a motor car.
Racing pigeons have flown from Stanley to Hobart (285km) in two hours and 30 minutes.
Pigeon racing is generally regarded as a working-class sport and hobby, it has not always been so. William Propsting, Tasmanian premier from 1903 to 1904, raced pigeons.
Among the displays yesterday was a wicker box that once housed pigeons - it was brought home from the Western Front in 1917. Pigeons were used in war zones as message carriers for hundreds of years.
A variety of non-racing breeds were shown to the visitors yesterday and the racing birds were then released into the air, no doubt arriving home long before Mr Jensen.
by John Briggs
The Mercury - themercury.news.com.au - Thur, January 20, 2005
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