New York pigeon racing heritage: Is it on its last flight?

 

New York pigeon racing heritage: Is it on its last flight? by Michael Walsh / New York Daily News

A shrinking group of pigeon racers strive to keep a New York tradition soaring, despite waning interest from the youth and attacks from activists. Lofts scattered throughout the city still bustle with pigeon racers thanks to this dedicated community.

New York pigeon racing heritage

For many fanciers like Joe Green, the tranquility of the coop counterbalances the chaos of life.
 
While most New Yorkers think of pigeons as “rats with wings,” there is a small yet ardent community that trains them to race.
 
The dedicated flyers are declining in number, but those remaining are fighting to keep their flailing tradition alive.
 
“With racing pigeons, you are actually building an athlete to go run a marathon,” said Dominick Guardino, a 49-year-old pigeon racer based in Orange County, N.Y.
 
Competitive pigeon races are organized by about 1,000 clubs in the United States.
 
During a race, pigeons are shipped to a designated location. The thoroughbreds of the sky are released simultaneously and then instinctively return to their respective lofts with exceptional homing abilities. Electronic clocks mark when the pigeons enter their coops to determine the race’s winner.

New York Pigeon Racing Heritage 2

Green tends to his birds every day at the Three Amigos loft in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Green’s friends, the other two amigos, and his brothers have retired — departures that are indicative of a larger trend away from the sport.
 
Pigeons completed their first 500-mile race in the United States in the 1880s. The American Racing Pigeon Union (ARPU), which sets race rules for its members, was established in 1910 out of volunteers’ garages and the sport enjoyed great popularity in the first half of the 20th century atop New York City tenements.
 
Since World War II, however, the number of American pigeon racers has declined by more than half, according to the ARPU.
 
Joe Green’s brothers introduced him to pigeon racing in 1979. Green, 46, tends to his birds every day at the Three Amigos loft in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Green’s friends, the other two amigos, and his brothers have retired — departures that are indicative of a larger trend.
 
“In the New York area, we don’t have as many pigeon fliers as we want to, but we still got enough to keep the sport going,” Green said, walking through his wooden coops beside the rumbling F train.

New York Pigeon Racing Heritage 3

Pigeons soar through the air above the rumbling of the New York City Subway.
 
Sometimes Green races his pigeons against birds belonging to his childhood friend Mike Tyson, whose softer side was explored in Animal Planet’s “Taking on Tyson.” The former boxing champion started raising pigeons to find some peace high above the commotion of the streets. For many fanciers — a person who keeps pigeons — the tranquility of the coop counterbalances the chaos of life.
 
“When I go into my loft it’s a whole different atmosphere. It takes a lot of stress away,” said Guardino, who faces difficult circumstances regularly as a firefighter.
 
The program documented Tyson’s start in racing after a lifetime of raising fancy pigeons, which are bred for beauty rather than athleticism. On the program, Tyson did not defeat Green, whose reputation precedes him as one of Brooklyn’s top fliers.
 
“We’re very competitive here in New York,” Green said. “Anybody on the East Coast that sends birds here, they’re really in for a challenge.”

New York Pigeon Racing Heritage 4

Green’s brothers introduced him to pigeon racing in 1979.
 
New York is renowned in the pigeon world due, in part, to the training techniques Guardino, Green and others inherited from previous generations.
 
Thomas Neuman, a 67-year-old racer in Suffolk County, recalled that he took up the activity in his youth to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.
 
“There is a sentimental value associated with it,” Neuman said. “There’s a history in New York City — where my family is from — of doing this. When I was a youngster, a lot of people did it so I had an inclination.”
 
Fliers with New York City roots have helped spread the sport throughout the tristate area.

New York Pigeon Racing Heritage 5

Do these look like “rats with wings” to you?
 
“Most of the flyers (in Orange County) are originally from New York City,” said Guardino, a Brooklyn native. Although New Yorkers have helped spread the sport to different areas, it has been harder to spread it to the next generation.
 
“It’s hard to get younger guys into it,” said Guardino, who inspired his nephew Chris, 25, to become a fancier. “In this area, the clubs that used to have 50 or 60 members now only have 20 … A lot of younger people today, it has to be technology or they want nothing to do with it.”
 
“It’s dying out slow but the friendship and stuff is still there,” Green said.
 
The sport has also come under fire from animal rights activists. PETA released a report from a 15-month investigation into pigeon racing in April. The group accused the sport of abusive practices and widespread avian killing.

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The animal rights group PETA accuses the sport of abusive practices and widespread avian killing in the name of gambling.
 
Jeff Kerr, general counsel to PETA, characterized pigeon racing clubs as nothing more than racketeering organizations.
 
“Like cockfighting and dogfighting, pigeon racing is all about the gambling,” said Kerr.
 
“When the public learns of the inherent cruelty in pursuit of human greed,” Kerr continued, “they are rightly repulsed by it and want to spend their time doing something else.”
 
But pigeon racers argue that the report has misconstrued the sport. Neuman, for instance, said he races for the “love of pigeons,” not profit.

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Green runs a pigeon coop that includes show pigeons that, if let loose, might not survive in the wild.
 
“It’s not the cruel sport that PETA makes it to be,” Green said.
 
“They are amazing animals,” Guardino said. “There is so much more out there than the people know about the sport. I think if people were more educated about it, more people would start it.”
 
Pigeon racing may be disappearing, but Green thinks that no matter what, there will always be someone to take the baton. Pigeon racing, for Green, is a staple of the city’s heritage, and it would cease to be the New York he loves without it.
 
“I couldn’t imagine,” he said. “It’s like Mister Softee driving up the block with no ice cream.”

New York Pigeon Racing Heritage 8

Sometimes Green races pigeons against his childhood friend Mike Tyson. The former boxing champ started raising pigeons to find some peace high above the commotion of the streets.

New York pigeon racing heritage: Is it on its last flight? by Michael Walsh / New York Daily News

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11 thoughts on “New York pigeon racing heritage: Is it on its last flight?

  1. It is sad that pigeon racing is a dying sport, here in Lincoln Ne we used to have 45+ members now down to 15 or so. One Loft Racing is helping out quite a lot with the promise of big pay outs, but we need to do more to entice a younger group to join our community, I just wish I knew what to do. By the way our first 500 mile race was in 1968.

  2. Secondly PETA takes away from other charities badly needed donations, while pigeon flyers over the years have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities like the children hospitals.NAME ONE CHARITY PETA HAS HELPED?????

    http://www.rpra.org/projects/show-of-the-year

    Quote, When all the hard work is done, the money is counted. All the profit from the show is donated to various charities. We support the British Fanciers’ Pigeon Lung Research Team with a sizable grant each year that enables them to carry on research into this respiratory disease. We are also now ASBAH’s single largest donor with over £440,000!

    gareth

    Help the Aged has also been a recipient of major funds, with a quarter of a million pounds donated over the last 15 years. We now have 29 minibuses trundling around the UK each emblazoned with our logo. The rest of the money is allocated to charities suggested by members of the fancy, which includes many cancer charities and hospices.

    Minibus presentation
    Actor Gary Wilmott receiving the keys to another Show of the year Minibus

    This is one of many acts of kindness from the pigeons flyers…… I don’t see any help from PETA!

  3. Peta is responsible for killing for stray animals than anyone else, it only finds home for 3 to 5% of dogs and cats at its re-home center the rest are put down….. WHO ARE THE REAL KILLERS HERE! PETA

  4. I enjoyed your article on racing pigeon, several years back I returned to the sport after 25 years. This organization PETA that you speak of should first educate themselves before ridiculing the sport of pigeon racing. I like to say to them that as a teenager growing up in the streets of New York City keeping pigeons in my parents backyard kept me off the streets and today I’m an electrical engineer for one of the top defense companies in the united states and can honestly say that raising pigeons helped me to be a responsible and caring young man. I think that if PETA would just take the time to meet some of us fanciers they will learn that the majority are good people that love the sport and care for their birds and won’t hesitate to help his neighbor in need. Today I have racing homers in my backyard and care for them very much, I also feed a stock of street pigeons on my way to work every morning which I buy a sack of feed for them every two weeks beside feeding my birds because I love pigeons…

    PETA please educate yourself before criticizing the sport and us fanciers..

    1. Hi Jesus Peta does not care about pigeon racing or any other sport involving animals
      or anything else they decide to go after it could be hunters soon it will be farmers these
      people stop at nothing there crazy in my eyes and animals shelters most of them want
      nothing to do with them what does that tell you.Regards Brad.

  5. Hi Michael i enjoyed the story very much i’m from canada and the sport is dieing here also i think the
    two biggest places to fly pigeons is Ireland and the up north combine in theUk and also the big ten in the U.S i wish there was a way to get people involved but its a different world now Brad.

  6. Really great story!! I started out just outside of NYC more than 30 yrs. ago. North Jersey, NYC, Long Island were all the heart of pigeon keeping, not just racing for years!

  7. Oddly enough,many PETA followers are pro abortion! The more I read about PETA the more I realize how little they really know about pigeon keeping and owning animals in general.We don’t mistreat our birds,we don’t kill them,we love and take care of them,which is more than PETA does.Google how PETA euthanizes dogs and cats in a van then throws them in dumpsters,yes,it’s true!

  8. Thousands of soldiers were saved in previous wars because of pigeons. This is especially the case for WW1 and WW2. I suppose that this is not important to Peta because to them animals are more important than people.

  9. It gives Kerr something to do and a title. PETA has nothing better to do if its not pigeons it will be some other animal. I guess peta thinks that all pigeon flyers are cruel and inhumane.Before i started racing the birds i did nothing more than i am doing now except feeding different feeds to help with the training.
    Pray that this group will find a real job.

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