As the world prepares to descend on Iowa for the upcoming caucuses (I myself am hitting Des Moines on the 30th), visitors might take note of an issue that appeared in yesterday’s Canadian media outlets.   Because none of the candiates have (yet) addressed the issue, I thought I would do a public service and generate some information. 

 

It appears that the office of the Iowa AG is investigating Pigeon King International (located in Waterloo, Ontario) out of concern that the company is misleading Iowa farmers about an investment deal that might just prove to be a Ponzi scheme.  The company is marketing farmers to purchase pigeon breeding stock and then promising to purchase the offspring under a ten year contract.  The farmer is expected to invest between $100,000 to $250,000 in order to get empty barns up to the task of pigeon raising.  The company currently has over 7000 breeding pairs, 100,000 pigeons (presumably non-breeding) and its owner dreams of owning a million. The company has ceased its solicitations in Iowa and is cooperating with the AG’s who is apparently skeptical of Pigeon King International’s intentions of opening several large processing plants. 

 

This story led me to do a little research on pigeons.  I have learned that there are many different kinds of pigeons and that Lee Wing Wah Restaurant in Chicago offers them as a delicacy.   I also learned that squab meat sells for about $10 a pound. (Squabs need to be slaughtered at the tender age of 4 weeks.  If the farmer waits to the fifth week, the meat is too tough to eat – or so it is reported.  I really do not know from personal experience.) Some pigeons are bred for racing and some for endurance (pigeons are able to stay aloft for between 5 and twenty hours).  Pigeons are also responsible for the successful reintroduction of peregrine falcons (evidently, falcons eschew Lee Wing Wah and go straight to the source for their sustenance).  

 

Finally, because pigeons mate for life, they could be the official bird for the Huckabee and Romney campaigns.

 

I thought that you'd all want to know these things.