Suspected spy pigeon is finally released after spending eight months in 'jail' – Daily Star
Indian police feared the bird was involved in Chinese espionage and launched a probe – and it’s not the first time a bird has come under suspicion in the country
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A suspected spy pigeon was cleared and freed after being caged for eight months in “jail”.
The feathered “felon” was placed under flock and key in May after being caught in Mumbai with “messages” tied to its legs. Indian police feared it was involved in Chinese espionage and launched a probe.
But it turned out to be a racing bird from Taiwan that had got lost. It was handed to the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and vets set it free on Tuesday.
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It’s not the first time a bird has come under suspicion in the country.
In 2020, cops in Indian-controlled Kashmir seized a fisherman’s bird which crossed the border with Pakistan. And in 2016, a pigeon was nabbed with a note threatening PM Narendra Modi.
The news comes after a beluga whale who went AWOL from Mad Vlad’s army has found a new forever home.
The 2,700lb defector, nicknamed Hvaldimir, was found by Norwegian fishermen with a harness around it after it started trailing boats.
A sign attached to the beast read: “Equipment St. Petersburg.” Locals believed it had been spying for Russia.
Since then he has been swimming up and down the coast but has now headed to the Svalbard region, a Norwegian archipelago between the mainland and North Pole.
The US and Russia train military marine mammals, using dolphins, whales, sea lions and seals to find lost swimmers and guard vessels from enemy divers.
Russian reserve colonel Viktor Baranets has previously said: “If we were using this animal for spying, do you think we’d attach a phone number with the message, ‘Please call this number?’”
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