Belgian racing pigeon flies past record in auction

Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, founder of Pipa, a Belgian auction house for racing pigeons, shows a two-year old female pigeon named New Kim, that will set a new world record price when an auction ends on Sunday November 15, 2020, in Knesselare, Belgium November 12, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman

KNESSELARE, Belgium (Reuters) - A two-year-old Belgian racing pigeon called New Kim set a world record of 1.6 million euros ($1.89 million) at an auction that ended on Sunday, the online auction house said.

Offers for the pigeon had already hit 1.32 million euros in the past week, surpassing the previous record of 1.252 million euros set in March 2019 for another Belgian pigeon, Armando. They then raced even higher in a frantic last 30 minutes of bidding on Sunday.