The world’s fastest racing bird has recently set a new record – not in speed, but in price. Aptly named Bolt (after famous athlete Usain Bolt), the beautiful Belgian racing pigeon was sold for a whopping €310,000 (approx. $400,000). Bear in mind that the previous most expensive racing pigeon only managed to fetch £16,000 ($24,000) in 2011.
Bolt was part of a huge collection of racing pigeons owned by Belgian entrepreneur Leo Heremes. Unfortunately for Mr. Hermes, the fact that he spent very much time near his birds resulted in him developing a virus that determined him to give up the pets – all 530 of them. He was very fond of the pigeons, and he was even known to talk to them before races, a habit that brought him the “Pigeon whisperer” nickname.
We can only imagine how difficult it must have been for him to sell the vast collection of birds. But what is even more difficult to imagine is what the man felt when he saw the prices soaring much higher than anyone had expected. Even the auction house specialists declared themselves stunned at how much bidders had offered. The entire collection grossed a mind boggling €4.3 million ($5.56 million)! Something tells us that Mr. Heremes doesn’t suffer from separation anxiety anymore.
