Wimbledon 2012: pigeon feathers halt play Fans had speculated the pigeon had been crushed by the mechanism but a Wimbledon spokesman said the bird had flown into the panels. Stewards said the roof, which naturally has gaps in its construction, could not be opened to let the bird out because it would allow rain to get onto the court. A spokesman said: "Honorary Steward can confirm that a pigeon flew from the Royal Box end of the court to the other end. It apparently avoided that stanchions, but proceeded to hit a number of the translucent panels, hence a few feathers fell to the floor. The umpire requested that the feathers be cleared and so some ball girls and boys, accompanied by Victoria Azarenka cleared them, then play resumed. The pigeon is not thought to have been harmed, but has not been seen recently. A spokesman for the RSPB said: "It's distressing when birds get injured. Hopefully there is a wildlife rescue centre who can take it swiftly and see it gets back on its feet again. Rufus the hawk has been employed to scare off pigeons for the last four years but there have been a number of other animals to interrupt games. In 1949, a squirrel appeared on court in a match between AC Van Swol and R Abdesselam and had to be chased away by a ballboy. Two sparrows disrupted proceedings in 1989 during the men's semi-final.