World of the Bizarre

Pigeons in China subjected to cavity searches

By T.K. Randall
October 3, 2014 ·  20 comments

The pigeons underwent some intrusive inspections. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Dragonfly95h The bizarre probing coincided with China's National Day holiday celebrations which have been overshadowed this year by terrorist attacks, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and crackdowns coming in to effect across the country.

Authorities oversaw the inspection of 10,000 pigeons at the Yuetan city sports centre in western Beijing with the goal of identifying any suspicious devices that might have been placed inside them."Their wings, tail-feathers, even their anuses must be carefully checked," said one official.

Once the security checks had been completed the pigeons were loaded on to sealed vehicles and taken to Tiananmen Square where another exhaustive check was carried out.

Authorities eventually concluded that the birds didn't pose a threat and all 10,000 were released at once from the square as part of the National Day holiday celebrations.

Source: The Guardian | Comments (20)

Tags: Pigeons, China