A pigeon that Australia had previously declared a biosecurity risk has received a reprieve after a U.S. bird organization declared that the leg band used to identify it was unauthentic.

The band leads to the belief that the bird found in a Melbourne backyard on Dec. 26 was a racing pigeon that had come from the U.S. state of Oregon, 8,000 miles away, two months earlier.

On that basis, Australian authorities on Thursday said they considered putting down the bird over disease concerns.

Deone Roberts, sport development manager for the Oklahoma-based American Racing Pigeon Union, said on Friday the band was fake.

She said that the band number belongs to a blue bar pigeon in the United States which is not the bird pictured in Australia.

“The bird band in Australia is counterfeit and not traceable,” Roberts said. “They do not need to kill him.”

Australia’s Agriculture Department, which is responsible for biosecurity, agreed that the pigeon named Joe, after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, was wearing a “fraudulent copy” leg band.

“Following an investigation, the department has concluded that Joe the Pigeon is highly likely to be Australian and does not present a biosecurity risk,” it said in a statement.

The department has ensured that it won't be taking further action against the bird.

“If Joe has come in a way that has not met our strict biosecurity measures, then bad luck Joe, either fly home or face the consequences,” Acting Australian Prime Minister Michael McCormack said.

Martin Foley, health minister for Victoria state where Joe is currently living, had called for the federal government to spare the bird even if it posed a disease risk.

“I would urge the Commonwealth’s quarantine officials to show a little bit of compassion,” said Foley.

Andy Meddick, a Victorian lawmaker for the minor Animal Justice Party, urged for a “pigeon pardon for Joe.”

“Should the federal government allow Joe to live, I am happy to seek assurances that he is not a flight risk,” Meddick said.

Melbourne resident Kevin Celli-Bird, who found the emaciated bird in his backyard, was surprised by the change of nationality but pleased that the bird he named Joe would not be killed.

“I thought this is just a feel-good story and now you guys want to put this pigeon away and I thought it’s not on, you know, you can’t do that, there has got to be other options,” Celli-Bird said of the threat to euthanize.

Celli-Bird had contacted the American Racing Pigeon Union in hopes to find the bird’s owner based on the number on the leg band. The bands have both a number and a symbol, but Celli-Bird didn’t remember the symbol and said he can no longer catch the bird since it is still recovering from its initial weakness.

The bird with the genuine leg band had disappeared from a 350-mile race in Oregon on Oct. 29, Crooked River Challenge according to its owner Lucas Cramer.

That bird did not have a racing record that would make it valuable enough to steal its identity, he added.

“That bird didn’t finish the race series, it didn’t make any money and so it's worthless, really,” Cramer said.

He said it was possible that a pigeon could cross the Pacific on a ship from Oregon to Australia.

“In reality, it could potentially happen, but this isn’t the same pigeon. It’s not even a racing pigeon,” Cramer said.

According to Celli-Bird, the bird spends every day in the backyard, sometimes with a native dove on a pergola.