China’s super-secret ‘spy pigeon’ has been unmasked as a humble Taiwanese racing pigeon. So, a little less ‘Bond’ and a little more ‘Bolt’.

Captured near India’s Mumbai port, the pigeon drew the attention of authorities after it was seen hopping around with distinctive rings attached to its legs that contained Chinese writing.

The best way to beat the Digital Age where everyone is hacking everyone else’s servers is to tie bits of paper to birds. Pigeons are unhackable … although their security weakness appears to involve bits of bread.

As a precaution, the Indian government kept this particular pigeon for more than eight months at the Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals while they unravelled the mystery.

Indian police clear Taiwan pigeon suspected of spying for China, read the dramatic headline in the Taiwan News.

They go on to clarify that an ‘investigation at a Mumbai animal hospital revealed the bird was an open-water racing pigeon that had escaped from Taiwan and winged its way to India’.

Racing communities are waiting for the serial number to be released before they can confirm where it escaped from.

It was set free by the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Picking on pigeons is not new. As the Taiwan News article points out, a pigeon was discovered in Manwel with a note written in Urdu threatening the Indian Prime Minister. It read: Modi, we’re [Pakistan] not the same people from 1971. Now each and every child is ready to fight against India.

If you’re going to find a racing pigeon in that part of the world, odds are it’ll be from Taiwan. According to OddityCentral, more than a million pigeons are killed each year while taking part in dangerous sea races. The pigeons are taken out to sea, sometimes over 300 km, and released. Animal rights organisations claim between 1 and 5 per cent make it back to their owners. While pigeons typically live for 15 years, and racing pigeons manage 10 years in most of the world, Taiwan’s pigeons are said to live an average of 1 year. Animal rights groups are also grappling with pigeons whose wings and feet are cut off to prevent them from completing their journey.

With half a million pigeon races every year, there are lots of little birds out there. Laying low in an Indian hospital for eight months was probably the equivalent of a health spa retreat.

It makes you wish the little guy had been recruited as a real spy.