A most fanciful trade.

The article discusses Canada's pigeon exporting industry. When the Australian government recently imposed a temporary ban on all live bird exports from Canada--prompted by the discovery of unspecified avian flu antibodies in a small group of racing pigeons shipped there from Ontario--bird enthusiasts were upset. The ban, which was lifted a few days later, came despite the fact that none of the feathered flock tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the influenza virus that has already killed more than 150 million birds and at least 62 people in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia. According to Robby Copeland, past president of the 103-year-old Canadian Pigeon Fanciers' Association, the pigeon-keeping and -racing industries in Canada each generate about $10 million a year in show revenues, prize money and pigeon sales.