Mike Tyson Pigeon Reality Show:PETA Speaks Out – Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is embarking on a new passion outside the ring. The boxing legend has taken on a new sport that won’t involve using hands, but wings. No, Tyson doesn’t have wings – well, maybe iron wings – however, his feathered friends known as pigeons do.
In a new reality series titled “Taking on Tyson,” Tyson has teamed up with Animal Planet to give audiences a glimpse into the competitive world of bird racing. Pigeon racing may not be a common thing for some, but for someone like Tyson who has been raising pigeons his entire life, it’s an easy transition. The show will follow his first foray into racing them competitively and give an inside look at pigeon rearing.
“I may have stopped fighting. But I never stopped flying birds. It’s my first love. I feel a great pride acting as an official representative for all the pigeon fanciers out there,” he tells the New York Post.
Ironically, “Iron Mike’s” first-ever fight as a child was in defense of his birds.
“Tyson’s passion for his pigeons takes my breath away,” marvels Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet Media. “For years, he has been inspired by these birds that he feels have the ‘biggest heart’ in the animal kingdom. “Taking on Tyson” peels back new layers of the remarkable persona and deep humanity of Mike Tyson while also showing us a whole worlds we never knew existed right on the rooftops of New York City.”
Filming is set to begin in April and slated to debut in early 2011.
Of course, the mention of activities involving any type of animal, other than providing tender-loving care automatically warrants a response and possible investigation from PETA.
According to PopEater.com, the animal rights organization’s president, Ingrid Newkirk, worries the new show will showcase cruelty and profiteering at animals’ expense.
AWEsome it’s about time someone does a show with pigeons. I have also raised Fireball rollers my whole life. PETA MYOB!! WAY TO GO MIKE