Last Thursday the EPPD received a call from a resident who saw an injured banded pigeon in their yard.

An officer picked up the pigeon and brought it back to the Police Department where it was given water and shelter for the night.

The following morning, Community Service Officer Dmitry Ivanov checked on the pigeon and determined that its injured wing had not healed. CSO Ivanov wanted to return the pigeon to its owner but was not familiar with the band on the pigeon’s leg and how to retrieve information from it. He decided to visit Wild Birds Unlimited in Eden Prairie to see if they had any ideas. Employees there looked up the band on a website and located an associated pigeon racing organization. That organization was able to trace the pigeon to a man living in Chaska.

CSO Ivanov contacted the man and learned he and the pigeon had been participating in a pigeon race in Oklahoma days earlier, and that the pigeon had not returned. In the race, pigeons are released far from their homes and the first to successfully return to their home is the winner. In this case, the pigeon flew almost 600 miles in the direction of home but was apparently injured just miles short of its goal. The pigeon and its owner were happily reunited at the Police Department.