Fearless Figo, the pedigree pigeon, broke both legs and almost died of exhaustion in his battle to get home - five years after he left as a chick.

The homing pigeon - who took a little longer than usual to get home - dropped out of the sky half-a-mile from where he was born, at the home of Skipton pigeon expert Dino Reardon.

Dino was so moved by his bird's courage that he is now nursing him back to full fitness.

He has rigged up a special harness which suspends Figo above the ground to keep the weight off his legs.

Dino, 70, whose living room in The Grove, Skipton, is decorated with framed photographs of champion birds, has also been feeding him energy-giving honey and yoghurt through a syringe.

And for several days he carried the bird - whose pedigree goes back in Dino's family for more than 200 years - in the rear of his car to be constantly at Figo's side.

But Dino thinks that just being back home is helping to do the trick.

"I didn't think he was going to survive, but to give him the will to live I took him outside to the pens to show him where he was.

"He knows he is home now," said Dino, with tears in his eyes.

"I could have cried when I first saw him - he looked so pathetic, but had shown such courage.

"I've been getting up at 3am to feed him and see he was all right.

"He must have flown a really long way. He was exhausted, he'd used up all his fat and his muscles were wasted.

"I don't think he had done any flying for a long time. He had been used as a pet," said Dino, whose grandfather brought the breed into this country as an Italian immigrant.

Within the next few days Dino hopes Figo will be strong enough to take solids - pigeon beans soaked in water for three or four days.

Figo was found lying exhausted in a field behind the home of Neil Holmes in Sharphaw Road, Skipton.

"I was out walking the dog and saw the pigeon. It was lying on its back and couldn't get on to its legs," said Neil.

He eventually contacted Dino by referring to the numbered ring on the bird's leg.

Figo gets his powerful homing instinct from his father, Champion Bluey.

When he was stolen and the thieves clipped his wings to prevent him returning to Skipton, he escaped his captors and was rescued walking back to Dino's home.

Champion Bluey went to a new home in Lancashire, but Dino believes he died of a broken heart because he couldn't stay in Skipton.

Dino gave many birds away, including Figo, when he was forced to give up breeding pigeons after contracting pigeon lung.

But Figo was never re-registered with the Racing Pigeon Association by the new owner and the numbered ring on his leg led back to Dino.

Dino is now back breeding birds after rigging up a new system of feeding and cleaning out the pens.