In an unheard of loss in the sport of pigeon racing, some 2,500 pigeons disappeared the weekend of October 17, 1998. According to Associated Press, approximately 1,800 out of 2,000 pigeons vanished during a 200-mile race from northern Virginia to Allentown, Pennsylvania. Ordinarily, the swift-flying birds return to their lofts in a matter of hours with only a bird or two turning up missing.
Nobody can explain it.
In a massive volunteer action, about half were returned safely to the water. Of that group, an estimated 40 repeatedly re-beached themselves. A separate group of 66 whales beached less than 100 kilometers to the north. Of this group only nine were successfully rescued. That we are in a time of change should not be new information to anyone these days.