I’ve got my own “official” (Pigeon) ID Card
It is so floofing cool! Two days ago I’ve received my own official (pigeon) ID card! My pet humans from XNL Future Technologies designed this super cool Pigeon Identification card for me so that I can also identify myself “properly” where “needed” 😉.
Bellow you’ll see a photo of me standing proudly behind my Pigeon Identity Card (and don’t you dare to steal my identity with it!).
Obviously for ‘safety reasons’ I had to blur the document number 😛
Why my own Identity card?
Well very simple, my pet humans will from time to time visit places or use (public) transportation which requires them to buy an ticket for themselves, often when there is a ‘kids ticket’ available they buy one on my name also (Sophie The Pigeon) if I come alone with them. They mostly do this just because they love to keep a (personal) ‘scrapbook’ for me of places where I have been.
And a several times already someone made a joke like: “Well you can’t proof she is actually Sophie The Pigeon like it says on the ticket, because she can’t Identify her self I guess 🤔”.
And sometimes my pet humans also order stuff on my behalf (using my name on the package), and If they then pick up the package at the postal office (with me tagging along on their shoulder), the postal worker will sometimes also joke something like that when they show their identification to retrieve the package: “Well that name doesn’t match what it says in the package does it 😉?“.
So that is how the idea of making my own “Pigeon Identity Card” was planted inside the head of one of my pet humans 😉
And of course because my breed is called Old Dutch Turbit (Oud Hollands Meeuwtje in Dutch), I personally thought it would be a great honor to also actually have an ‘official like‘ Dutch identity card for a pigeon like me 😊
It’s a nice conversation starter
And when ‘used’ in combination with some of the ‘examples’ mentioned above, it is definitely a nice and fun(ny) conversation starter 😊. I’ve even already used it once ‘for official purposes’ (which will be in a Vlog & Blog post later sometime), and there it also sparked a funny conversation which caused me to actually make new friends on Social Media (Instagram in this instance) 😊.
Is it an official ID Card?
YES! (well to me it is!). For me (Sophie The Pigeon) it’s very special that I now actually have my own Dutch Identity card. But in ‘human terms’? No, it is not an official government issued Identity card. It does look quite similar to the (current) official Dutch Identity Card for humans, but it (purposefully) for example does not have the official watermarks, holograms or any other ‘markers of authenticity’, and neither did my pet humans attempted to replicate those in any way.
Lots of text (the ‘partially hidden/watermark like’ text) has even been altered to “Sophie The Pigeon” or they have just used ‘dotted lines’ instead of the official text. This to prevent that it would classify as “identity theft”, “Identification Document Fraud” or anything like that. And on the back of the card the design is completely different from the original, and it even has a disclaimer on it (in both Dutch and English) explaining it is not an official government issued document.
Where and how did you got it made?
Well like I’ve told above, the design itself has been made by my pet humans (completely from scratch), but the cards have been printed by Lars from DCP (Dutch Card Printing). My pet human initially emailed them to ask a quote on the production of my Identity card, but once Lars got his eye on it he sent me (not my pet human, but me!) a reply back (translated from Dutch to English):
“Hello Sophie,
Lars – DCP
I really like the idea of your owner. If you’ll give me the address of your dovecote we’ll send you the ID card.“
Which was less than 20 minutes later (even before I could reply) followed up with that it was already waiting to be shipped.
And sure thing, the next day my own “official” Pigeon ID already arrived in our mailbox😳.
AMAZING service and super friendly communication from these guys at DCP.
And what made it even cooler, was that Lars even included a handwritten post card addressed to me 🥰! Which was by the way also the first postcard I ever received which was actually written for me 🥹.
This is the post card I received from Lars (will be translated to English underneath the photo’s)
The translation of the handwritten text inside the card says:
Dear Sophie,
– The translated Postcard
Congratulations with your own ID card.
I understand very well that you also want to be able to identify yourself.
Fortunately your owner has made a fine file!
I wish you a lot of fun with it!
Lars Kiewiet
So is this a sponsored post or recommendation for/about DCP?
NO it is not. Legally everyone posting on social media, blogs etc is obligated to mention/state if a post, product or endorsement is sponsored, well I can honestly tell you that this is not an “sponsored endorsement” at all. My pet human has spoken with Lars of DCP both on the phone and over email (because it was a bit questionable on our side IF we would be allowed to get a design like this printed), and Lars clearly stated that it was not necessary, required or even requested in any way to make ANY post or mention about it at all.
He just thought that the idea which my pet humans had for me was very cool, and he just wanted to gift it to me due to that. He even said in a follow up email:
“Deze aanvraag gaat bij DCP in de boeken als meest bijzondere aanvraag tot nu toe. En we bestaan dit jaar 20 jaar 👍“
– Quote from a follow up email from Lars (In original Dutch)
Which translated to english means:
“This request will go down in DCP’s books as the most special request to date. And we exist 20 years this year 👍”
– Translated quote from Lars his follow up email
This also made my pet humans quite proud in some way (as it also did for me), to which me and my pet humans actually decided to make a video and this post about me getting my “Official Pigeon Identity Card“. And this was with the permission of Lars of course, but already way after I had already received my Pigeon Identity Card from them 🙂
So yes, I did got the Identity card produced as a “sponsored” gift, but this was for me personally, without any expectation by Lars/DCP for ‘return favors’.
Me and my pet humans where however so much surprised by the service quality, print/production quality, the enthusiasm and the time Lars of DCP took to answer all our questions (for such a ‘small low value order’, which would not even be paid for at all due to Lars/DCP gifting them to me), that we decided to actually dedicate the “I got my Identity card posts” to DCP instead of just making a ‘short post’ about me receiving my “Official Pigeon Identity Card” 🥰
Video Post(s) about me and my Identity card
You can find a (short) video about me showing my new Identity card, the post card I got from Lars, and how happy I am with the post card itself on my following social media channels:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct5KdW5Md4w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PigeonSophieXNL/status/1672780940886548482
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pigeonsophiexnl/video/7248436332861590811
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nUXsWXVmIuk
Ow and if you are checking out any of my social’s, then make sure to follow me there if you don’t want to miss out on new posts 🥰
I hope you enjoyed my (first official) blog post, If you like you can leave a comment and even follow me on one or more of my other social media channels.
I hope you’ll have a nice day,
Much Love,
Sophie The Pigeon🕊️🪶
I can tell that your human cares alot about you. A very nice card
Thank you very much, I LOVE it 😀 (and my human(s) of course 😛 )