New Kim, a well-bred two-eared from a renowned Antwerp loft, was auctioned for just 200 euros.
Brussels:
An unidentified Chinese buyer paid a world record € 1.6 million ($ 1.9 million) on Sunday for a female carrier pigeon called New Kim, online auctioneers Pigeon Paradise (PIPA) said.
The sale beat the 1.25 million euros paid for male pigeon Armando last year, according to PIPA.
New Kim, a well-bred two-eared from a renowned Antwerp loft, was auctioned for just 200 euros.
“I think it’s a world record, there has never been an officially documented sale at such a price,” Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, president of PIPA, told AFP.
“I didn’t think we could reach that amount.”
The buyer, who has not been named, “will probably want to raise him,” he added.
New Kim won the 2018 Ace Pigeon Grand National Middle Distance crown in competitions organized in Châteauroux and Argenton-sur-Creuse in France.
The best European birds have gained worldwide fame in recent years and especially in China where pigeon racing can generate huge gains.
Wealthy buyers in the Gulf and Asia have driven up the prices of Champion Birds due to their instinctive ability to fly hundreds of kilometers (miles) and always find their way home.
The passion for pigeons is rooted in Belgian and Dutch life, the tradition spreading in the north of France.
The sport had been considered in decline until auctions started showing serious prices for potential champions and established winners.
Gyselbrecht said Belgium alone has 20,000 breeders of racing birds destined to participate in major competitions.
New Kim was trained by his father and son Gaston and Kurt Van De Wouwer in their world-class loft in Berlaar, near Antwerp. They sold their entire “collection” of pigeons on Sunday.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
