According to the UK’s Royal Pigeon Racing Association, mobile phone masts can interfere with racing pigeons’ homing instincts. Partly as a result, a UK local authority has refused mobile operator Orange permission to build a new mast.
The RPRA’s Peter Bryant told Newcastle newspaper The Journal, There’s perhaps a little truth in it. The main thought about their homing instincts is that they follow the magnetic field of the Earth.
However, Orange was unimpressed with the debate. Orange is unaware of any evidence to suggest that signals from telecommunication masts are affecting the homing abilities of pigeons, the company said.
