| Leaping Lena | |
| Species: | Columba livia |
| Breed: | Racing pigeon |
| Gender: | female |
| Nationality: | West Germany |
| Occupation: | Racing pigeon / Cold War hero |
| Employer: | Radio Free Europe |
| Role: | mascot |
| Years Active: | 1954–1955 |
| Known: | bearing an anti-communist message |
| Website: | http://www.rferl.org/content/off_mic_pigeon_who_crashed_iron_curtain/1859287.html |
Leaping Lena was a West German racing pigeon who got lost in Czechoslovakia during a routine 1954 flight. When she returned home two days later, there was a message addressed to Radio Free Europe attached to one of her legs. It read:[1] It was signed "Unbowed Pilsen."
Leaping Lena was brought to the United States in August 1954,[2] quarantined for 3 weeks,[3] and then was used to raise money for Radio Free Europe as part of a publicity campaign for the Crusade for Freedom, a front organization used by the CIA.[4]
Leaping Lena was then kept at Fort Monmouth's Pigeon Breeding and Training Center. When the Center was deactivated in 1957, fifteen hero pigeons were donated to zoos, while about a thousand others were sold to the public.[5]