WHEN a racing pigeon was released in Poland, his owner expected him to make a short flight from one town to its neighbour.
But, while the rest of the birds all returned safely, Lech did not.
No-one really knows what happened to him, but somehow he ended up making a much longer journey than planned – to Bracknell.
A member of the public found him exhausted and weak, and handed him in to Bracknell’s Moor Cottage Veterinary Practice.
Karolina Pionk, clinical director there explained:
“It’s a lovely story, and quite unusual.
“We could see that the bird was de-hydrated when he came in, but nothing was broken.
“We gave him some pain relief and made sure he was hydrated, and we could see that he belonged to someone because he had identification rings on his leg, with a telephone number.”
Moor Cottage usually sees small animals: hamsters, guinea pigs, cats and dogs, and pigeons aren’t usually on their radar.
“Cats and dogs are microchipped,” continued Karolina, “ and it’s usually easy to find their owners when they are lost, but this was more difficult.
“A few of the telephone digits were rubbed off, so that wasn’t much help.
“We were determined to find the pigeon’s owner so our veterinary nurses contacted the Royal Racing Pigeon Association in the UK for help.
“They gave us a contact number for the Polish Racing Pigeon Association and, as I am Polish myself, I began trying to get in touch.”
Moor Cottage kept Lech safely for two weeks, and eventually Karolina tracked down the right Polish society.
“They couldn’t believe I was calling them from the UK,” laughed Karolina.
“They passed on my contact details to the owner, but he doesn’t speak English, and he didn’t realise that I speak Polish, so his nephew called me instead.”
The family were astonished to hear that the bird was in the UK.
They had presumed he was either dead or stolen, since he’d been missing for over a year.
“We couldn’t simply release the bird.
“It’s such a long way, and his navigational skills were obviously not that great, so we didn’t trust him to find his own way to Poland.
“I asked the nephew, ‘how will you get the pigeon home?’”
The nephew, it turns out, had been living in the UK but had recently relocated to Poland.
“But he still has friends in London, and one of them who is also a pigeon fancier, and came to Moor Cottage to collect the bird,” continued Karolina.
“He had a big, posh, pigeon container, perfect for transporting him safely.
It was very impressive, and clearly, he knew what he was doing, so we were very happy to let him take Lech.”
The friend’s wife and children were shortly going to Poland and agreed to take the pigeon with them and return him to his owner.
“Animals don’t travel very well, particularly birds, but we could see that Lech would be well cared for and comfortable for the trip.
“It was a very happy outcome,” said Karolina.
And why did she call the bird Lech?
It was my son who named him,” she explained.
“He said, ‘a Polish pigeon needs a Polish name. We’ll call him Lech, after the legendary Polish hero who first established Poland.’”
Lech, the legendary Polish pigeon is now re-united with his owner Adam Jakubas, who was thrilled to have his bird back at home in Poland.
He was full of praise for Moor Cottage, which is owned by Linnaeus.
He said: “I was overwhelmed with the dedication of Karolina and the team at Moor Cottage who showed such concern and love for Lech.
“I am extremely impressed with the amount of effort they went through in order to find me and the real dedication shown by the whole team to make this happen.”
