国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

Business / Industries

Pigeon prices fly high due to China demand

(Agencies) Updated: 2015-02-26 08:18

Pigeon prices fly high due to China demand

David Trippett inspects a pigeon during 'The Homing Pigeon World Show of the Year' at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, Britain, Jan 18 2015. The annual show, which started in 1972, has around 2,500 pigeons exhibited and attracts an average of 25,000 visitors from all around the world.[Photo/IC]

To most city dwellers, pigeons are vermin. Gourmands might contend that they can make a nice lunch. But pay more than 100,000 euros ($113,400) for a pigeon?

It has become increasingly common, driven largely by interest in pigeon racing among China's newly rich, Bloomberg Markets reports in its March issue. In May 2013, Chinese businessman Gao Fuxin set a record, paying 310,000 euros in an online auction for a pigeon named Bolt, after Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

The previous record was 250,400 euros paid by a Chinese shipping tycoon in 2012.

Birds from Belgium and the Netherlands are prized for their countries' racing traditions, and the company has conducted nine auctions since 2009, with total proceeds exceeding 1 million euros.

In a typical pigeon race, hundreds of birds from different breeders' lofts are outfitted with time-keeping bands, trucked to a starting point hundreds of kilometers away and released simultaneously.

The winning bird is not the one that gets back to its home loft first but rather the one that travels at the fastest average speed.

In Belgium, a scandal erupted in 2013 when six pigeons tested positive for banned performance-enhancing drugs, including cocaine and painkillers.

Purses can exceed 1 million euros, and many races in China feature an active illegal betting scene. More than 2.5 million euros can ride on a race's outcome.

Owners anticipate that at least 10 percent of their entrants will not make it back in each race. Hawks are a common problem. So are thieves. In China, pigeon pirates wait along the birds' expected routes with bait and nets. If captured, the birds are resold or ransomed.

Expensive birds such as Bolt are simply too valuable to race. They are put out to stud after being auctioned.

 

Hot Topics

Editor's Picks
...
郧西县| 同心县| 珲春市| 上思县| 那坡县| 武宣县| 安阳市| 安徽省| 富阳市| 无极县| 错那县| 大英县| 邵阳市| 景德镇市| 临朐县| 五常市| 历史| 陇西县| 县级市| 云浮市| 锡林郭勒盟| 休宁县| 墨玉县| 广东省| 东港市| 六枝特区| 临清市| 阿图什市| 隆回县| 巍山| 原阳县| 道真| 商丘市| 吉木乃县| 福安市| 安康市| 大庆市| 绿春县| 宿松县| 紫金县| 丁青县|