Well there's always the possibility that anything might be a hoax. Roswell, Hooben's Maus and E100....

Here's the original BBC post. Wouldn't be the first time major news carriers get taken in...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20456782

and Time..

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/11/27/...war-ii-pigeon/

So far nothing on Snopes but then again Snopes isn't as unbiased as one would hope.

Jerry