With social media and smartphones offering instant communications, the postcard and the telegram are virtually obsolete. But in India’s eastern state of Odisha, police are working hard to preserve an even older practice – carrier pigeons.
Used to carry messages between stations in remote regions and keep in touch with police units on the move, the police pigeons of Odisha also proved to be the only dependable method of communication during devastating floods in 1982 and a 1999 super-cyclone that caused widespread destruction in the coastal state. Indeed, the handlers say pigeon post helped save many lives.
Anil Dhir, from the Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), works with police to run the service, which was launched in 1946. The area had no wireless or telephone links, so the state was given 200 Belgian homing pigeons by the army as a communications experiment.
Dhir claims that Odisha has “the only existing pigeon carrier service in the world, and a unique example of an ancient tradition being kept alive in modern times”. He adds: “India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, used the service to send a message to state officials in Cuttack from Sambalpur [south Odisha] on 13 April 1948. The short message read: “The arrangements for the public meeting should not be such as to separate the speaker from the audience in Cuttack.”
Dhir says Belgian pigeons are chosen primarily for their ability to fly long distances (up to 24km or 15 miles) in just 15-25 minutes and their longevity – they live up to 20 years.
“Currently, about 155 such pigeons are under police care. We have two lofts in Cuttack and one at a police training college in Angul, central Odisha.”
Three officers look after the mix of racing, carrier and homing pigeons, which are taught to deliver three types of services: static (one way), boomerang (two way) and mobile (used by police units on the move to communicate with headquarters). The messages are written on onion paper, inserted into a plastic capsule and tied to the pigeons’ feet.
Although the use of pigeons as messengers was first recorded in Eygpt at around 3,000BC, they were thought to be first used in India in the 16th-century Mughal era. Pigeons came into their own during wartime, carrying secret messages around military networks, and were widely used during the first and second world wars, delivering messages across Europe, India and Burma (now Myanmar).
According to Esha Munshi, birdwatcher and founder of the Feather Library, Ahmedabad, which maintains a feather archive of 120 bird species, the Belgian pigeons have particularly strong homing instincts, which make them a perfect choice for communication. “Homing pigeons have been used for centuries as messengers. Their instinct to zero in on a geographical location based on the sun’s direction and the Earth’s magnetic field is unparalleled.
“They are similar to the passenger pigeons – a now extinct species – that were extensively used in the US to carry messages during war,” she says.
The state government spends £4,900 a year for the upkeep of the pigeons and salaries of the staff. One of the police handlers says: “The pigeons’ training begins when they are five to six weeks old. These birds can fly up to 500 miles at a stretch with a speed of 55kph, depending on the weather.
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“They are allowed to fly small distances of 3-5kms initially. They are taught to recognise the locality and made to practise different types of services. Once trained, their accuracy in route mapping remains intact for decades.
“The pigeons are very intelligent and recognise the handler’s voice, which makes their management easier. I know the birds individually and they also recognise us from our voices,” he adds.
But the service is now seen as outdated and costly, and is under threat. The pigeons are increasingly used only for ceremonial purposes such as Independence Day parades. The police handler, who does not want to be named, says: “Many government officials view the ‘pigeongram’ as a waste of resources. There’s increasing talk of the service being disbanded. However, every time this happens, there’s a huge public outcry.”
Dhir says he is excited about a ceremonial flight of 60 pigeons planned by Intach and Odisha police from Bhubaneshwar to Cuttack. “It’ll be attended by the public and students who will get to witness this charming service. It’s a lot of effort but our sincere aim is to keep this tradition alive for as long as possible. It’s all about cultural preservation.”