Up, Up, And Away: The Rise And Fall Of The Homing Pigeon, Our First Courier Service
Every day, people send over 180 billion emails worldwide, Canadian postal workers handle over 30 million pieces of mail, and the race is on to establish a reliable and efficient drone messaging service. Technology has dominated the courier industry, and while these accomplishments are awe-inspiring, they are not the most significant messaging achievements.
For thousands of years, mankind has used and relied on homing pigeons to safely deliver their messages. Even though the use of homing pigeons as couriers has all but died, the history is paramount.
The Oldest Courier Service
Homing pigeons have delivered messages for almost as long as mankind has been able to write them. While the exact origins of homing pigeon domestication are unknown, researchers speculate that, around 2000 B.C., the early Sumerians of Mesopotamia (now present-day Iraq) began breeding and training these birds. The ancient Egyptians were probably the first people to widely use pigeons as messengers, but cultures throughout the northern African region, in Asia, and around the Mediterranean Sea also used them. Even the ancient Greeks used homing pigeons to announce the winners of their earliest Olympic games.
Last Legs of the Messenger Pigeons
Technological advancements worldwide and the Industrial Revolution significantly reduced the need to use pigeons as messengers, but did not destroy it. In 1877, the ship Wairarapa wrecked off of the Great Barrier Reef coast. A homing pigeon delivered word of the Wairarapa shipwreck to the New Zealand shore, prompting the region to develop the Great Barrier Pigeon-Gram Service.
During the first and second World Wars, thousands of pigeons delivered messages among Allied forces, took covert pictures over enemy territory, and carried requests for reinforcements.
In more recent times, an Indian police force used pigeons to alert residents in rural areas of pending natural disasters. They successfully delivered emergency messages during tornadoes and floods and remained in service for about 50 years. Unfortunately, the Indian government succumbed to technology and, in 2002, ended the world's last-surviving pigeon carrier service.
The Fate of Courier Pigeons
Today, courier pigeons are bred and trained predominately for sport. Approximately 5,000 Canadians breed and train their birds for these races, which are usually hundreds of miles long. Interest in the sport is waning, however, and animal rights activists are pushing for the sport's end.
The homing pigeon has had a long history of helping mankind deliver messages quickly and cheaply, and over amazing distances. The fate of pigeon racing is uncertain, but quite possibly signifies the end of humanity's working relationship with this bird.
The End?
Homing pigeons are hardly the only courier service developed by mankind. In 490 B.C., ancient Greek Pheidippides ran 26 miles to tell the people of Athens that the Greeks defeated the Persians. In 1860, Pony Express messengers delivered mail across the American west by horseback. In 2013, Australia revealed its first courier drone.
Pigeons can deliver mail faster than trains, they do not rely on satellites or computer networks, and they do not have minimum salary requirements. It is highly unlikely that the courier industry will ever turn to pigeons again, but these birds hold a solid and significant place in mankind's history.
For more information, contact A-Dash Messenger Service Ltd. or a similar company.
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