Pigeon fancier ‘close to tears’ after 15 prize birds are stolen
Fifteen prize pigeons have been stolen from a pigeon loft in Zottegem (East Flanders). Pigeon fancier Luc De Clercq says the stolen pigeons are worth a fortune because of the potential they have to breed and put young prize pigeons into the world.
Still, it’s not only money that counts in the world of the pigeon fancier. Luc De Clercq told VRT Radio that the bird’s emotional value was far bigger than any monetary value.
“I love my birds. Now they are gone. I wonder where they are” said a Luc close to tears.
It was a major shock for Luc when he looked into his aviary at the weekend: ‘I never expected this would happen to me. The thieves took my best birds. Fortunately, they didn’t manage to get into the breeding cage where they would have found my most expensive birds. Still this is a meagre consolation.”
Luc’s pigeon loft borders grassland and that’s how the thieves got in. Luc’s been a pigeon fancier for nearly half a century, but he’s puzzled why he was targeted now: “My birds did well last season, but not exceptionally well. My neighbour’s birds performed far better and he didn’t get a visit.”
The stolen birds will be used for breeding purposes. Luc De Clercq: “They can’t race pigeons with these birds, but they can with their offspring. My breeding pigeons are all fine racing birds and they will pass on these genes to their young”.