Duesseldorf police said today that the 6-year-old male homing pigeon, named AS 969, was stolen at some point on Saturday night from a locked aviary in the city's suburbs.
They say the light gray bird is valued by its owner at 150,000 euros (USD 184,000) and police suspect the thief or thieves were "connoisseurs" as it was the most valuable in an aviary full of other homing pigeons.
The owner offered a 10,000-euro reward for the bird's recovery.