‘Athletes of the sky’: Pigeons now allowed to take flight from Georgina lofts after resident pushes for bylaw change

Town allows up to 60 pigeons on half-acre properties within Pefferlaw, smaller hamlets

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 25, 2023

Birds of a feather flock together.

Each night, Georgina resident Henry Radder opens a trap door from his backyard loft and his prized pigeons spread their wings and take to the sky.

By the end of a typical race season -- mid-spring to early-fall -- his trained birds would have flown between 350 and 400 kilometres in less than a dozen timed races.

“Pigeons are not poultry,” said Radder, who breeds, raises and races pigeons as a hobby sport.

“Pigeons are the athletes of the sky.”

Last year, after a complaint, he was forced to separate his 50-bird flock, house them in various lofts and forgo training and racing.

But he took his plight to council, pushing for a change in the town’s bylaws to allow pigeons in residential areas.

Recently, the town modified its bylaws to allow for residential pigeons in Pefferlaw and other hamlets, joining the likes of East Gwillimbury, Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill that allow pigeons.

And, to his relief, Radder got his birds back.

After losing a whole racing, breeding and training season, his birds are now learning to ramble -- taking off, circling the property and navigating their way home.

When it comes to pigeon training, Radder likes to release his birds one kilometre at a time, starting with shorter distances and working his way up to the Gravenhurst area. Pigeons can fly upwards of about 150 km/h.

“Sometimes, they get home before me,” laughed Radder.

“You do what you can to teach them, train them and make sure they love to come home. But as soon as you let them out, they’re a pigeon.

“There’s a lot of work involved. It’s such a sense of accomplishment when they come home.

“At the same time, every time I let them out there’s a sinking feeling of ‘will they come back?’ and ‘what did I do wrong?’ ”

It takes about five years to breed a stellar racing team, he added.

“You breed the best to get the best and you get to play god,” he said.

“It’s like having your own hockey team where you’re the president, the trainer and coach. And you see how good the team is at the end of the year and try to do better the next year.”

The town’s modified bylaw outlines a number of restrictions: a minimum half-acre property; a maximum of two flights per day between April and October before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m., and before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m. during the rest of the year; pigeons are to have an ID tag and owners are required to be a member of a pigeon club; a maximum of 60 birds are permitted during racing season.

But there is concern the town's restriction to Pefferlaw and smaller hamlets could hinder the sport as open areas along Lake Simcoe are popular pigeon release sites for training the birds to navigate over the lake.

Ryan Zonnekeyn, a third-generation pigeon breeder and racer, is surprised more municipalities don’t allow pigeons. Radder sent some of his pigeons to stay at Zonnekeyn's loft while the town was working on the pigeon file.

“You hear people say pigeons are just rats with wings,” said the York Region resident and founder of the Pioneer Professional Racing Pigeon League of Canada.

“That’s ignorant. There’s wild pigeons and then there’s fancy, racing pigeons. Pigeons have personality.

Pigeon breeding and racing has a long-standing history in Europe, he added, comparable to horse breeding or racing.

“I’d love to get into horses, but I’m not a billionaire,” Zonnekeyn said. “I’ve been super successful with pigeons.

“You can train pigeons for months then take them 25 miles away and watch them come home in about an hour. Or you can take them 500 miles and they’ll be home in about 10 hours. It’s incredible. What a feeling.”

For more information on residential pigeons, visit georgina.ca.