“- A life’s work of thirty years will be sold…”

We contacted him through the telephone last Monday, with just one ‘burning question’ on our lips… Thoné, are you going to sell everything? Jos Thoné: “- With pain in my heart I have to admit that I will be selling everything at the end of the year… Well, all the racing and breeding pigeons. Only the youngsters from this year will stay… All the rest will  – more’s the pity – have to find a ‘roof over their head’ somewhere else…

The reason?
Well, that is twofold…  One the one hand the ‘top sport’ and working at ‘top level’ of the pigeon sport is taking its toll… I’m not that young anymore. I will be fifty this year and have taken part in the fight to the top of the pigeon sport for thirty years. When you see that I visited almost every continent … Where there were pigeons, Thoné visited. Check it out… I partly did it to  build up a network of pigeon friends. This way I saw nearly all the continents and at the same time build up a respectable extended network.

But there is more… There is another serious reason why I want to spend less time in the pigeon sport… Some time ago various doctors diagnosed an eye sickness. Quite a rare one even… In ‘layman’s terms’ this sickness is known as ‘Birdshot’. Doctors call it birdshot chorioretinopathie… A difficult name for a sickness which can be treated, but only with very strong medication. And to be honest: during a ‘melancholic’ fit, I made a drastic decision. Everything must go… I can’t keep up with this highest level of the sport any more. That’s why I have chosen to – via my pigeons – give the pleasure to other people. It is the intention that PIPA will come and select the best from my breeding and racing pigeons and put them on the market in the form of a public auction. All the rest will be auctioned in China and Taiwan. In total there will be about 300 old birds divided over 3 places sold in a public auction, with the absolute top being in Belgium.

A dramatic decision which will give my life a new direction. It  will be a lot calmer… And that is what I hope to achieve. Rest. At the same time I’m thinking about what to do with the empty lofts. Whether I will sell them and erect them by someone else or whether I will allow someone to keep their pigeons here so that my carer can look after them optimally. Admit it: whether he has to take care of my pigeons, or someone else’s pigeons, there is no difference… In this way the stress is removed from me and other people can enjoy their pigeons here… To be more precise, if a tenant knocks on the door wanting to house his pigeons here, then here is perfect. He can then race further with my youngsters… On one condition: that he is ‘qualified’. A real pigeon fancier… The right person in the right place at the right time…

Meanwhile, I have just returned from Barcelona. Not for the pigeons. To visit one of the best professors in the hospital there in Barcelona. He is an authority in the area of eye sickness over the whole world. And yet he redirected me to Leuven. Because of the top doctors, he said… He asked me: Why travel so far when you can find the same technologies in your own country?… And he’s right. A person can only focus on one thing at a time, and my health has all priority.

Of course I will never really say farewell to the pigeon sport. The word ‘pigeons’ is engraved too deep in my heart. I will remain a pigeon fancier for ever and a day. In heart and soul. I want to make my services available for free to anyone who wants to make use of them. You read it right, for free! If the KBDB were to ask my advice tomorrow, then they would get it. A motivated and very deep opinion. Several organisations have already asked me if I will advise them in the future. About arranging races. About liberations. In short, about everything which I can advise on…

But there is more: I am presently busy with ‘training’ ‘young people’ in the pigeon sport. Someone recently win a first semi-national. A young chap who kept coming here to ask my advice. And I felt that he had 'it’ in him. And see: in the end it happened quite quickly.
This way I remain linked to the pigeon sport. And that is exactly what I want… Being involved with the pigeons and at the same time having no stress and weight on my shoulders… Yes, I finally want to start enjoying the pigeon sport…”

That then was Jos Thoné, who was clearly emotional. His life’s work of more than thirty years will later go under the auctioneer’s hammer. Believe us: that gives you a ‘lump’ in your throat… Having worked for thirty years to see all the plumage leaving for all the corners of the world… Or so as Jos so nicely translates it: to give pleasure to other lofts… The people of PigeonParadise – PIPA for short – will yet again do their very best to let this auction to be written in the history of the pigeon sport. Because one thing is certain: by Thoné there is quality, a great deal of quality. A first prize is won every week in the Thoné household. From all distances. From nil to thousand kilometres. There is really no better all-rounder… And yes, at the same time we are also proud. Because the Duivenblad will take care of the layout and distribution of the sales programme. All information relating to this auction will follow later… That this will be the ‘banger’ of the auction season, needs no more proof. We are looking forward to it…