The Council of Agriculture on Saturday said that gambling on pigeon racing is illegal after the Taichung District Prosecutors Office charged 129 members of a pigeon racing club in Taichung on Tuesday last week, following complaints filed by a US animal rights group that filmed a documentary about the maltreatment of the birds.
The US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) last year submitted a report to Taiwanese authorities based on its undercover investigation at a pigeon-racing club in southern Taiwan, which suggested more than a million pigeons die every year during seasonal pigeon races.
Following the accusation, prosecutors cracked down on Fengyuan Pigeon Club in Taichung and seized NT$66.62 million (US$2 million) in illegal gambling funds in January this year, while charging 129 club members, including the club’s president surnamed Lai (賴) for suspected gambling.
Prosecutors estimated that the club processed at least NT$260 million in bets every year, while Lai allegedly earned NT$13.46 million in commissions.
The charges came after another PETA accusation about a series of pigeon races held by a Kaohsiung-based club from June to July.
The organization alleged that races started with 7,301 birds and only 36 pigeons return from the fifth race of the series, prompting the cancellation of the final two races because there were too few birds remaining.
“Young birds — not even a year old — are shipped out to sea, released in the middle of the ocean and forced to fly back home even in the midst of typhoon-strength winds. Most often, less than 1 percent of these highly intelligent birds complete each seven-race series; many drown from exhaustion, perish in the storms, or are killed upon return for being too slow,” the organization said in a statement.
A documentary filmed by PETA from June to October 2013 showed birds crashing into the ocean and drowning after their release from boats, as well as the snapping of a bird’s neck by pigeon racers after losing a match.
The organization urged the council to take immediate action to stop pigeon racing and gambling.
The council announced on Saturday that gambling on pigeon racing is illegal and those who broke the law would face criminal charges, adding that it generally depends on prosecutors and the police to crack down on pigeon racing and gambling, as the council could only mete out administrative punishments.
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