Catch me if you can! A lightning-fast Belgian racing pigeon named after Olympic gold-winning Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has been sold to a Chinese businessman for a world record price of USD 400,000.
The Belgian pigeon 'Bolt' was sold on the auction site Pigeon Paradise. The owner, 66-year-old Leo Heremans from Vorselaar, Antwerp, sold his complete loft of 530 birds for USD 5.6 million at the auction, which was also a new record.
It is expected that the new owner will use 'Bolt' for breeding more birds.
The buyers of nine of the ten most expensive pigeons sold at the auction were from China or Taiwan.
In 2011, a UK record was set for the price of a racing pigeon when one was sold for USD 24,147, also to a Chinese buyer.
"Over the past years, a real hype has been created around the owner's pigeons, as they were doing so well in various competitions. This explains why they fetched so much money", Nikolaas Gijselbrecht of the pigeon site Pigeon Paradise was quoted by Expatica Belguim as saying.
The previous record price for one single pigeon was set by "Dolce Vita", which was sold for about USD 323,917 to the Chinese businessman Hu Zhen Yu in 2012.
