Moor Cottage Vet tracks down pigeons owner one year after 'going missing'

The pigeon was handed into Moor Cottage Vetinary Practice by a member of the public after finding him exhausted and dehydrated.

Once the owner of the clinic, Karolina Pionk, noticed the identification rings on its legs she began a determined search to track down its owner.

Karolina explained: “The pigeon had identification rings on his leg which revealed he was from somewhere in Poland.

“Unfortunately, the owner’s contact details were not legible, so we 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.

In the interim, the staff at the veterinary surgery had christened him ‘Lech’ after a character in a Polish folk story.

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After several calls to speak to the association, she was forwarded on to the correct division who was able to track the owner through a code on one of the rings.

Ms Pionk left her private number to enable the owner to get in touch.

She added: “After we had almost given up hope, I received a phone call from an unknown Polish number and the great news was that it was ‘Lech’s’ Polish owner!

“He was very surprised to learn Lech was alive and well, as he had gone missing more than a year beforehand.

"The owner quickly contacted a friend of his, who lives in London, to organise the collection of Lech from our clinic.”

The owner, Adam Jakubus was full of praise for Moor Cottage Vetinary hospital and their detective skills. 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.”