Low regulation and high stakes mean Taiwanese pigeon racing is awash with cheating – but efforts are afoot to clean up the sport
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here’s almost nothing some handlers won’t do to win. Competitors have been kidnapped and then offered up for ransom. Others have reportedly been smuggled on to high-speed trains to get to the finish line first. Some are said to be kept hungry so that they move quicker on race day.
This is the fast and furious world of pigeon racing in Taiwan.
The sport is globally popular and centuries old, but few scenes are as bizarre as Taiwan’s, where the stakes are high and no scheme is too complex or crafty for some. But members want things to change.
