What then does this mean for our professional surfers?
Joe is a very talented racing pigeon from the United States who became confused during a race in Oregon, turned right and flew, or maybe hitched a ride on a cargo ship, for an extraordinary 8000 miles (13000 kilometers) to Melbourne, Australia.
Kevin Celli-Bird, a resident of the country’s cultural capital, found the exhausted bird in his backyard on Dec. 26th. “It rocked up at our place on Boxing Day. I’ve got a fountain in the backyard and it was having a drink and a wash. He was pretty emaciated so I crushed up a dry biscuit and left it out there for him,” he told the Associated Press.
“Next day, he rocked back up at our water feature, so I wandered out to have a look at him because he was fairly weak and he didn’t seem that afraid of me and I saw he had a blue band on his leg. Obviously he belongs to someone, so I managed to catch him.”
The Oklahoma-based American Racing Pigeon Union has confirmed that Joe was registered to an owner in Montgomery, Alabama.
Celli-Bird let the heroic bird go, infuriating the “the notoriously strict” Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service who are now seeking to re-capture and execute Joe for flaunting protocols.
The service released a statement reading, “The bird is not permitted to remain in Australia” because it “could compromise Australia’s food security and our wild bird populations. It poses a direct biosecurity risk to Australian bird life and our poultry industry.”
They are currently hunting the gallant creature.
All to say, our professional surfers are set to re-start the severely bungled 2020/21 World Surf League Championship Tour at Bells Beach, very near Melbourne, in three short months. Word coming out of Australia is that there will be no quarantine exceptions made for those coming into the country. They will each have to quarantine in hotel rooms for two weeks, without leaving, and after their two weeks will only be able to surf in their heats, not being allowed to play in the ocean otherwise.
Much time in hotel rooms.
Notoriously strict.
Do you think our professional surfers will be able to abide by the rules?
Do you think they will be executed if they do not?
How will World Surf League CEO Erik Logan screw it all up this time?
A racing pigeon was sold at auction for $1.9 million this past November, which means they are very much more valuable than our professional surfers.
Guillotine for the top 20?
CEO Erik Logan helping to hold them in place before the blade drops?
Blood gushing down Hosier Lane?
More as the story develops.