India's Police Pigeon Service in Orissa

Fallen trees might break telephone lines. Power failures might wreck computers. But in eastern India, one thing still gets through: carrier pigeons. The police department in the state of Orissa uses these specifically trained birds to send messages between remote outposts.

There are 27 police pigeon cages or lofts around Orissa. It's the job of 37 officers to feed and train the birds. The training starts when the birds are about six weeks old. Depending on weather conditions, they can fly as fast as 55 miles per hour.

Messages are written on a scrap of paper, which is rolled up and inserted into a tiny plastic capsule that's then attached to a pigeon's leg. "Report immediately to headquarters about the incident at Gurudijhati…in which two persons were killed in violence. Send a constable with all details," read a message sent during the summer of 2004 from the Central Breeding and Headquarter loft in the city of Cuttack.

The Orissa police pigeon courier service dates back to 1946, the year before India's independence from the British. In 1999, the pigeons were instrumental in ferrying information across the cities after a cyclone tore into the region, killing thousands of people and snapping communication links with coastal areas.

" We recognise the fact that modern day communication will someday bring down the curtain on pigeon post. But for now, the pigeons will keep on flying," says Constable Ashok Kumar Naik, one of the pigeon trainers.