Leaping Lena was a West German racing pigeon who got lost in Czechoslovakia during a routine 1954 flight.

We beg for a speedy liberation from the power of the Kremlin and the establishment of a United States of Europe.We listen to your broadcasts.

We would like you to tell us how we can combat bolshevism and the tyrannical dictatorship existing here.We are taking every opportunity to work against the regime and do everything in our power to sabotage it.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.

When the Center was deactivated in 1957, fifteen hero pigeons were donated to zoos, while about a thousand others were sold to the public.