While many Chicagoans might think pigeon racing is rushing to their bedroom windows at 4:30 a.m. to chase away the birds and their infernal cooing, aldermen have introduced a proposal to bring back the sport of racing homing pigeons.
It’s a pastime beloved by many people of Polish descent, so Northwest Side Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, took a plan to the City Council this week to legalize it in the city. It was banned more than a decade ago.
“Pigeon racing is a sport that receives no attention in the United States but is deeply loved in Poland,” Villegas said in a statement. “A number of residents in my ward have brought that love to their new country and would like to bring the sport to Chicago.”
Villegas’ proposal says the pigeons must be kept in enclosures “except for limited periods necessary for exercise, training and competition” between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. and “such pigeons shall not be released for flying which have been fed within the previous four hours.”
The ordinance would let breeders of “pedigreed rock doves” keep the birds at their homes in lofts “that are inspected and certified on a regular basis to ensure the birds are kept in clean, sanitary and healthy conditions.”
The City Council outlawed homing pigeons in residential areas in 2004 after people living near residents who kept the birds complained about getting “splattered” when they tried to hang out laundry or sunbathe. At the time, pigeon supporters said their pets are unfairly derided as “rats with wings.”
Pigeon fans then said aldermen and other critics were erroneously confusing their birds, which are registered and vaccinated, with common street pigeons that can transmit diseases.
Members of Chicago racing clubs went to federal court, but in 2005 the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge upheld an earlier district court ruling that found the city was within its rights to ban racing pigeons as pets.
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