World’s most expensive pigeon sold for $329,000

I am not a big fan of pigeons; they seem to think the world is their loo. But there are people who think otherwise, which justifies the record £209,000 ($329,000) sale of a Dutch pigeon on internet. Pieter Veenstra sold 245 pigeons under the hammer through the Belgian website Pigeon Paradise, or PIPA, for well over £1.6 million ($2.52 million), which included the Dolce Vita hen. Lucky buyer is Hu Zhen Yu, a shipping magnate from China with the intent to breed it for pigeon racing that seems to be a new rage in the country.

Pigeon racing is a cult sport in nations like Britain, Belgium, Holland and Germany, but the sport is not ideally fancied by the rich crowd. The purchase has sparked debates of sorts in the world. Terence Wright, from Enniscorthy in Ireland says, “Is it so good to see all these top European birds go to China, to see the best stock leave our shores and to know that soon all our best pigeon’s blood lines will be no longer available to the fanciers of Europe?”
[Telegraph]