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RANST, Belgium — Belgium’s once pastoral pastime of pigeon racing has come to this: Drones swoop over lofts where valuable birds are housed to look for security weaknesses, laser sensors set off alarms at night and cameras linked live to mobile apps keep potential thieves at bay — 24/7.That’s what happens when the fast-flying fowl — which in a bygone era were, at best, the toast of local bars — have turned into valuable commodities.The most expensive bird to come out of the top pigeon-racing nation in the world fetched 1.6 million euros ($1.65 million) a few years ago.No wonder the sport is grappling with an unprecedented wave of unsolved pigeon pilfering that has hit several of the best birds in the business.This winter season is “extreme,” Pascal Bodengien, the head of the Belgian Pigeon Racing Federation, told The Associated Press.
“Not a week goes by without a theft somewhere.”In one loft, an estimated 100,000 euros ($102,900) worth of pigeons were stolen last week.Overall, no arrests have been made.
Prices per bird, said Bodengien, “can vary from 1,000 to 100,000 euros … and that is what they are after.”Exact statistics on losses are often not available because the reporting and police investigations are not centralized.The emotional loss often weighs heaviest of all.The sport involves daily care, over decades, and the rustling of feathers combined with the tranquil cooing often gives breeders a haven of peace in their otherwise bustling lives along with a measure of pride if their birds are winners.Frans Bungeneers is a breeder of champions.
He started at age 8 and is still going strong in his 60s.His life got one of its biggest jolts in November 2016 when thieves broke into his garden shed and took away just about all his top pigeons in a heist of some 60 overall.“It was such an incredible blow for me.
I can tell you honestly, I cried like a little boy because my life’s work was completely destroyed,” Bungeneers said outs...