race pigeons drown as tide covers trailer

TWO pigeon fanciers who fell asleep after parking their trailer with 450 prize birds near the mouth of a Scottish river, woke up to find that 120 of the birds had met a watery grave.

The racing pigeons, worth thousands of pounds, had drowned as the tide came in and lapped over the trailer.

The men, from the Stranraer area, had parked their car and trailer near the mouth of the river Annan, at Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, and had settled down to wait until it was time to release the birds for a race across the Solway Firth to Wigton in Cumbria. But they fell asleep while waiting for the race to start. They woke in the middle of the night to find water lapping around their legs.

The embarrassed pair managed to wade ashore and raise the alarm at a nearby cottage. But by the time help arrived the car was nearly submerged, the trailer partly covered by the tide and 120 pigeons in the lower decks of the trailer had drowned.

A police spokesman said the men, who have not been named, were shocked, but unhurt.

i would have shot the basxxxds

Thats got to be one of the stupidest things i have ever heared of, dont they realise the tide comes in every day, I hope they never take birds off agian. If I was a fancier loosing pigeons this way they would have to hide for a couple of hundred years.

Ray and Martyn i would agree with you 100%

shouldnt be allowed to be in charge of pigeons in future, they were trusted to keep the birds safe and liberate them for the race..........

they should be made to compensate owners of birds lost