The Last Carrier Pigeons

A lot of species of birds have been known to mankind, but rarely has one become so useful to us. This is the story of India’s last carrier pigeon service which ensured that Odisha could get its messages relayed to impossible locations.

An Old Painting Featuring A Homing Pigeon (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Odisha’s Koraput district saw the first batch of pigeon mail back in the wake of the Second World War. But even before this, these simple birds have served some mighty names like Shah Jahan and Tipu Sultan, who maintained exquisite fleets of trained pigeons to serve their needs of communication.

In 1946, the Odisha Police were given 200 such pigeons to train by the army. Since then, the state police have taken the task very seriously. Their daily tasks included sweeping pigeon droppings, feeding the birds, giving them water to make sure they stay hydrated, and looking after their overall well-being. During intense floods and cyclones, these birds continued to serve the force and provided relief to disaster-struck homes. At its height, Odisha’s pigeon fleet was made up of an impressive 1,500 winged messengers. Till just a decade ago, these carriers were so important that new recruits had to clear a 10-mark test on pigeon service.

Odisha’s bird service came into the limelight when Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, himself used the service. He needed to relay a short message urgently from Sambhalpur to Cuttack. Running out of time, Nehru decided to give this fleet a shot. Soon, the birds proved their worth and the message was delivered successfully after a quick span of five-and-a-half hours. In its eagerly awaited contents was a simple stage fix-up Nehru wanted to be done:

“The arrangement for the public meeting should not be such as to separate the speaker too much from the audience”

Sadly, these birds were replaced by rapidly growing postal technology in the late 19th century. In March 2002, India's Police Pigeon Service Messenger system was formally and permanently removed from service. But Cuttack still has one of the world's only remaining pigeon services with over 100 such pigeons kept as the final link to a long-standing past.

These birds are trained from the time they are six weeks old. Their stunning speed of up to 55 kilometres per hour has proven to be very useful for the state police. The constables know the birds individually and have faith in their loyalty and efficiency.

But their postal duty in the skies has quickly faded away. With the last of the original passenger pigeons gone, their story has become little more than a memory. Still, the state of Odisha continues to uphold this tradition with their heads — or perhaps feathers — held high. One can only hope that the newly trained birds will carry forward the remainder of this rich legacy.