Leaping Lena was a West German
racing pigeon
Pigeon racing is the sport of releasing specially trained homing pigeons, which then return to their homes over a carefully measured distance. The time it takes the animal to cover the specified distance is measured and the bird's rate of trave ...
who got lost in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
during a routine 1954 flight. When she returned home two days later, there was a message addressed to
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
attached to one of her legs. It read:
It was signed "Unbowed
Pilsen."
Leaping Lena was brought to the United States in August 1954, quarantined for 3 weeks, and then was used to raise money for Radio Free Europe as part of a publicity campaign for the
Crusade for Freedom
The Crusade for Freedom was an American propaganda campaign operating from 1950–1960. Its public goal was to raise funds for Radio Free Europe; it also served to conceal the CIA's funding of Radio Free Europe and to generate domestic support fo ...
, a front organization used by the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
.
Leaping Lena was then kept at
Fort Monmouth
Fort Monmouth is a former installation of the Department of the Army in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The post is surrounded by the communities of Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, New Jersey, and is located about from the Atlantic Ocean. Th ...
's
Pigeon Breeding and Training Center. When the Center was deactivated in 1957, fifteen hero pigeons were donated to zoos, while about a thousand others were sold to the public.
[ Lena's fate is not stated.]
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{War pigeons
Individual animals in politics
Anti-communism in Czechoslovakia
Individual domesticated pigeons
Czechoslovakia–United States relations