Of course the reason behind all the pigeon love and devotion is gambling. Same as cock fighting and even beetle raising in other countries in the region. I’ve never seen people so devoted to gambling in so many different venues.
There’s a bunch of pigeon racers here in the Bay Area. I have found them on the altamont, and even gave water to one that landed in our office back lot one day. They’re taken into the Central Valley for early training runs and ride out on semis to the big races. One of those starts in Idaho, takes the birds about 12 hours to return the 600 miles.