14 DAY TRIAL // There's this old saying that being as free as a bird is the best anyone could ever hope for. As it turns out, not all birds get to do what they want when they want to. Birds in China, for example, have a pretty tough life.
Not to beat about the bush, it appears that, earlier this week, authorities in this part of the world took the time to closely inspect the dorsal side of 10,000 pigeons. While performing these bizarre checks, they kept an eye open for suspicious objects.
The news about how China treats its pigeons hit the online community via state-owned newspaper The People's Daily, whose staff published a piece on this series of odd security checks this past Tuesday.
Why would anyone stare into a pigeon's behind?
According to Huffington Post, these 10,000 pigeons that had their behind inspected by Chinese authorities were scheduled to be released in Beijing this Wednesday as part of celebrations organized to mark the country's National Day.
Thus, this October 2 marks the 65th anniversary of Mao Zedong's founding the People's Republic of China. Apparently, authorities thought that somebody might want to ruin the Communist party's day by having pigeons blow up over their heads.
In light of recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, it really should not come as a surprise that China's communist party isn't exactly at ease with the world. Still, inspecting pigeons' dorsal sides is a wee too much.
What exactly happened to the pigeons?
Information shared with the public says the unlucky birds were first taken to a sports center, where security officers closely examined them. Apart from their behinds, their wings and their Tails were also carefully checked.
As mentioned, the Chinese officials entrusted with examining the 10,000 birds did their best to make sure neither of the pigeons was carrying suspicious objects. Exactly what suspicious objects could possibly be hidden in a bird's backside remains a mystery.
Once the inspection was over, the birds were finally released. For some reason, they proved the better animal and did not take revenge by doing what pigeons do best: rain yesterday's dinner over people's heads and cars.
Chinese authorities really were on to something
Admittedly, checking out pigeons' behind without their consent is wrong. Still, it appears that the Chinese authorities who performed these checks did not come up with the idea that birds can prove deadly on their own.
Thus, word has it that, during World War II, spy chiefs in the UK actually considered the possibility to train pigeons to visit enemy targets and have them carry biological weapons or explosives in their bodies.