The homing pigeon is a
variety of domestic pigeon derived from the rock pigeon, selectively bred to
find its way home over extremely long distances. The wild rock pigeon has an innate homing
ability, meaning that it will generally return to its nest and mate. This made
it relatively easy to breed from the birds that repeatedly found their way home
over long distances. Often we see, doves being released at ceremonial occasions
!
A release dove is a breed
of Rock Dove (domestic pigeon) used for ceremonial release. Release doves are
often used to commemorate important milestones
and are also released at grand
opening ceremonies – be it political or sporting events. White homing pigeons are the most preferred
for these, for white symbolizes
love, peace, purity, serenity, and
more.
Sadly, the domesticated
dove, when released would find the nature cruel and difficult to survive. Sometimes to prevent harming these gentle
birds, white rock doves, or racing pigeons, are often substituted for ring-necked
doves. Last year, when Pope Francis and two children
released two white "peace doves" at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican
City, the doves were immediately attacked by other birds, losing feathers and
being driven away as a huge crowd watched.
Subsequently, tens of thousands of Tweets and FB posts were launched,
some of which used words such as "demonic," "omen," and
"apocalypse"—and inevitably, of course, referring to "angry
birds."
It is stated that though
thousands of pigeons live in Rome – white doves are rare. The white birds reportedly became immediate
target of aggression. It is stated
that albino birds generally don't live
long in the wild – due to their color they are easy targets, cannot hide
falling victim to predators easily.
The result this year was
that dozens of balloons were released at the Vatican as a sign of peace –
keeping in mind the bloody conclusion to the peace service in 2014 appears to
have forced the Pope's officials to cancel the tradition, replacing the age-old
symbols with a more modern alternative. Animal welfare groups were outraged by
last year's disaster - claiming the Vatican did not do enough to protect the
doves used during the ceremony.
So balloons replaced doves
– reportedly one of them was filled with hot air and contained messages
promoting global peace, while a child read out a speech on the same theme.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
29th Jan 2015.
