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Not The Onion: Racing Pigeon Freed After Allegations of Spying for China

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Sports Illustrated 

After eight months in state custody, an athlete has been freed from jail following allegations of espionage.

If you were prepared to Google a human name, you would be incorrect.

An open-water racing pigeon from Taiwan was set free in Mumbai last Tuesday after being held for eight months on suspicion of spying for China, according to a report from the Press Trust of India that has been widely circulated in American media over the last week.

Police captured the bird in May, detaining and examining it after identifying "two rings tied to its legs, carrying words that looked like Chinese."

Pigeon racing is extremely popular (and controversial) in Taiwan. The Taipei Times, a Taipei-based Anglophone newspaper, wrote in 2004 that "the life of a racing pigeon in Taiwan is spoiled, competitive and short" and "a bird can earn more in one race than a baseball player can in a season."

Predictably, the bird's ordeal became an Internet phenomenon, making headlines in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Ireland and elsewhere.

Jokes flew, including references to the 2023 movie Oppenheimer.

Many marveled at the sheer length of India's investigation.

Obscure 2000s-era indie band The Pigeon Detectives got a shout-out.

The imaginations of more than a few were piqued by the entire affair.

It remains to be seen whether the pigeon has grounds to coo—er, sue.