A hive of activity in the pigeon practice

It seems that the health problems of our pigeons this year are more serious than in previous years! We are overwhelmed by requests for help from all over the world. Especially by phone, but also via emails with pictures and videos of pigeons with problems, and of course in the clinic. It even seems that, under the influence of a number of lay writers, medical supervision has been pushed a bit into the background, with all the unpleasant consequences that this entails.

With influential pigeon fanciers around the world

In the past century (which seems longer ago than it is), there were also discussions and polemics in the various pigeon newspapers! What a luxury, we then only had about five newspapers in the Netherlands.
Prominent among them was the NP orgaan of the de Zeeuw family. In that newspaper, there happened to be writing the great supporter of the so-called “Grain and Water-theory” (Arie van den Hoek). Piet de Weerd was also a regular contributor, who was ‘coincidentally’ my brilliant father. He was more or less ahead of his time, regarding medical supervision which was invented with pharmacists, including Harrie van Helvoort from Breda and veterinarians at home and abroad. Father Piet made the Belgian racing pigeon famous in the USA, Mexico, Germany, South Africa and Asia. He also probably made the best breed ever, world famous. And there were of course the Janssens Brothers from Arendonk. These great champions were visited countless times by my father in the company of influential pigeon fanciers from all over the world. To name but a few: Erich Heinemann (former chairman of the DBV) of the top fashion group with the same name in Germany. Raymund Hermes (meat magnate), known to everyone, a phenomenon in Hamm (Sieg) and in the Saar region. Professor Anker from Kaposvar (Hungary), known from the beautiful book by Steven van Breemen (The art of breeding). Prof. Anker was preoccupied with the genetics of pigs and he even tried to breed an extra rib in a certain breed!

As a world expert in the field of racing pigeon selection, my father was regularly consulted by Anker. Along with, professor William Keeton of the famous Cornell University in Ithaca NY. In this case it concerned the pre-selection of pigeons, which Keeton used for his pioneering research into the orientation abilities of our racing pigeons. Keeton never visited the Janssens. My father visited him several times at the university in Ithaca.

Olympic Games 1968

I also remember Miguel Galas Lavin, a close friend of my father from Mexico City; he came to Breda regularly and he also visited the Janssens. My father and I visited Miguel in 1968, which was at the time of the Olympic Games. Miguel had a large printing firm with 600 staff, where all the tickets for the Olympic Games events were printed, which meant I could go wherever I wanted. Miguel was friends with Mexican president López Portillos and Ramírez Vázquez, president of the Mexican Olympic Committee and architect of some beautiful stadiums. Thus, I received a personal invitation from the president of the IOC, Avery Brundage, to help release the pigeons at the opening ceremony, during which Enriqueta Basilio lit the Olympic flame.

On the road with father Piet

I still remember the German fine artist Prof. Norbert Kricke, also a pigeon fanatic, who long ago made a large metal work of art, his ‘Hexenküche’ for the University of Baghdad. With father sitting next to him and me folded up in the back of the Triumph sports car, we often drove to visit famous ‘Belgians’. And not to forget Prof. Jan Bonsma, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Also a respected geneticist who bred the ‘Bonsmara’ cattle breed in South Africa. This breed is a great achievement, it is resistant to insect bites because it has been bred with a thicker skin that prevents mosquitoes and ticks from delivering their ‘loads’ of blood parasites. Bonsma was also a great pigeon fancier and a wise man. He was impressed by my father’s selection technique because this had produced good Aarden-pigeons in South Africa. The breed which Piet de Weerd had nominated as the most important ‘basic pigeons’ to Jan Aarden. The story is quite well known. Although the Steenbergs breed still dominates the very long distance!

‘Grain and Water Theorie’

Anyway, let’s go back to the ‘Grain and Water Theory’ of vdH (van den Hoek) and the polemic about it with Piet de Weerd, the supporter of responsible medical supervision. Every scientist who knows something about pigeons, agrees that this ‘Grain and Water-theory’ is of course nonsense. Pigeons that are in their baskets every week, with thousands of others in containers, it is logical that you’ll find ‘all’ the pathogens that exist! But then comes the real problem, because I’m repeating it for the umpteenth time: “The presence of potentially dangerous bacteria or viruses does not necessarily mean that the pigeons are sick. It takes more, such as a drop in resistance, a bad loft, bad care, etc.” With modern PCR techniques we can find 1 bacterium, so to speak, while 1000 are needed to become ill. PCR techniques are expensive.