A local youth, known for his penchant for rearing pigeons, turned a saviour for a racing pigeon from a far-off place that made an unscheduled stop at Khammam two days ago.
The pigeon, trained for long-distance flight, landed in the residential area abutting the historic fort after deviating from its scheduled flight path on Tuesday evening.
On noticing the bird lying along a roadside shop in a feeble condition tagged with a red colour banded ring on its leg, the passer-by initially grew suspicious of the bird, mistaking it to be a trained avian sent on a “spying mission”.
A ‘paan’ shop owner alerted Mohammad Shafi, a bird lover of the residential locality surrounding the fort, about the bird.
Mr. Shafi examined the leg-ring of the bird and established its identity as a racing pigeon belonging to a Chennai-based racing pigeon club. He then took the bird to his house, gave it nutritious diet and kept it in a special enclosure.
Speaking to The Hindu , he said the bird might have lost its flight direction due to exhaustion. An identification code (NHPA15 2907) and a mobile number (9944495035) are printed on the banded ring fixed to the pigeon’s leg.
“I have called the mobile number and passed on the information,” Mr. Shafi said.
