Celebrities | Jun 15, 2020 08:00 AM EDT

Queen Elizabeth II Heartless? Queen Sparks Anger Of Animal Activists!

By Alexandria Kim

Queen Elizabeth II has successfully saved herself from COVID-19. Unfortunately, she forgot about the pigeons she sent to South Africa, resulting to their deaths.

Her Majesty is a true pigeon fancier, as she has successfully kept a large flock of them at Sandringham for all of her life. The practice started in 1886 when the royal family received racing pigeons from King Leopold II of the Belgians.

Her great-grandfather, Edward VII, and her grandfather, George V, were also avid pigeon racers.

But for the first time, all the racing pigeons sent from the Palace died during the quarantine period after they spent their days inside bleak little crates. The pigeons were transferred to South Africa to join the "Olympics" of pigeon racing -- the South African Million Dollar Pigeon Race (SAMDPR).

Because of the unfortunate event, animal activists urged the Queen to sever her ties with every pigeon racing events around the globe.

The animal rights organization PETA also conducted an undercover investigation into the event to know what really happens to the animals during the quarantine period. According to their report, in the last six years, only five out of 42 pigeons that were sent from the breeding ground survived.

This year, out of 373 pigeons, only 44 survived.

PETA added that some of those pigeons were "too tired" when they returned to the loft, while others were slaughtered after the races.

"Exploiting the extraordinary homing abilities of pigeons in this cruel manner so as to win a prize purse is extraordinarily callous," PETA Director Elisa Allen said. "PETA most respectfully urges the Queen to remove the royal loft birds from these deadly races and turn her Sandringham pigeon breeding mill into a sanctuary."

Meanwhile, after South Africa's National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals saw the number of deaths among the animals, they labeled it as "consistently alarming statistics." They outlined the conditions to establish explanations on what happened.

"During the 2020 season, 80 percent of pigeons disappeared. This race takes place in one of the hottest months of the year," Arno De Klerk, the society's special projects unit manager, said. "One can only imagine the suffering these birds endure."

"Heartless" Queen Elizabeth II?

Meanwhile, race organizers defended Queen Elizabeth II and denied that the animal cruelty happened.

Per U.K.'s race coordinator Paul Smith, the pigeons truly died, but the reasons were dehydration and starvation during races while some were killed by predators.

"I don't think pigeon fanciers kill many pigeons," he said when asked if most of the pigeons were culled. "I suppose some do."

As for the claims that the pigeons posed a risk to people, race director Michael Hold debunked the accusations and said that nothing like that ever happened. He also stated that the pigeons did not race in extreme heat. Instead, they flew them up when it was 5 degrees Celsius cooler than the ground.

The Buckingham Palace also sent an explanation to express.co.uk, saying that they always adhere to the standards and regulations required in pigeons racing.