Picasso, Elvis Presley, Walt Disney and Charles Darwin all owned pigeons as pets. Over the years, the birds have fallen on hard times and are often seen more as a nuisance than a domesticated animal.

“They were domesticated before the dawn of recorded writing,” she says, from a species called the rock dove. “We know Genghis Khan was using pigeons to communicate with his army. The results ...

Food Inspection Agency says it has uncovered a case of Newcastle disease at a commercial pigeon operation in Chilliwack, B.C.