Mar 16 (Pen Men at Work): Mike Tyson, undisputed boxing heavy weight champion, is all set to take his career to another interesting level. It has been recently announced that Tyson has teamed up with Animal Planet for a series on pigeon racing called “Taking on Tyson”. The show which will be aired in 2011 will have Tyson training pigeons for competitive bird racing along with a team of bird experts.

Apparently, the 43 year old boxer had been caring for pigeons since the time he was 11, 12 and even got into a fight with neighborhood bullies who were trying to harass his birds. Tyson who owns a few hundred birds in two lofts outside Manhattan has never raced them in past. Animal Planet Media president Marjorie Kaplan said “Tyson’s passion for pigeons takes my breath away and peels back new layer of the remarkable persona and deep humanity of Mike Tyson”.

In his statement in press, Tyson said, “I feel a great pride acting as an official representative for all the pigeon fancier out there. I want people to see why we love these birds. It feels good returning to the rooftops of the city where it all started for me- NEW YORK”

But it seems that this whole idea of racing pigeons have not gone down well with animal protection groups like PETA, who fear that this might increase glorification of cruelty against the birds.