Giant baby pigeon has Cotswolds experts in a flap (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Giant baby pigeon has Cotswolds experts in a flap

5:10pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009

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A GARGANTUAN baby pigeon is baffling staff at a Cotswolds animal rescue centre.

The youngster, named Big Boy, was taken in to be cared for at Oak and Furrows, at Somerford Keynes near Cirencester, and at just two-months old he already dwarfs an average adult pigeon.

At 12 inches tall and measuring 15.5 inches from beak to tail with a 31-inch wingspan he is 50percent bigger than the average size of an adult bird and with a weight of 650 grammes twice the weight.

Serena Stevens, manager of Oak and Furrows, said Big Boy's huge size was a mystery.

"I have never seen anything like it," she said. "I would like to hear from anyone who can come up with any explanations."

After seeing our picture a spokesman for the RSPB said it had probably been bred by a pigeon fancier but Graham Giddings, secretary of the National Pigeon Association, was not so sure.

"I have absolutely no idea what it is," he said. "I forwarded it onto our chairman who also has no idea."

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