July 5, 2024, 5:47 am | Read time: 4 minutes
White wedding doves are released into the sky for the “most magical day of your life”. Is this romantic or an act of animal cruelty? Opinions differ on this.
Snow-white wedding doves flutter into the Brandenburg sky, released from the hands of Rainer Österwitz, a dove breeder from Klaistow near Potsdam. The trained metalworker has plenty of work. His doves are sought after for youth celebrations, funerals, and especially weddings. The pigeons are released from the hand or a woven wooden basket, then flutter over the heads of the guests, and then fly back to their dovecote.
The custom of releasing doves has been around for many years. “White doves accompany the sky chariot of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. With Noah, they are the messengers of the end of the flood. In the New Testament, a white dove symbolizes the spirit of God. In general symbolism, the dove stands for peace,” explains Manfred Becker-Huberti, theologian and customs researcher. “The soaring of doves at a wedding stands for the beginning of a new peaceful, happy, and faithful union between two people.” It is a rite of passage.
For wedding doves, “training is the be-all and end-all”
Before the doves take their first flight at a wedding, they have to practice their return flight with Österwitz. “Training is the be-all and end-all before the doves are allowed to fly at weddings,” he says. He takes the pigeons out of the village several times as the distance increases in order to train the return flight and orientation. He then doubles the distance to the home loft, the pigeon breeder reports.
The return rate of Österwitz’s doves is about 95 percent for longer flights of up to approximately 150 kilometers. The remaining five percent are lost due to hawks or other birds of prey. According to him, it is virtually impossible for his birds to get lost and die because of the training. What’s more, it can only happen in the immediate vicinity. “They’re usually back faster than I am.”
Animal rights activists say, “This touching moment for people means the certain death of many doves”
Animal rights activists criticize the wedding dove business for several reasons: “The moment that touches the wedding couple and the guests so emotionally means the certain death of many doves,” says a spokesperson for the German Animal Welfare Association. Many of them “fly away, starve to death, die of thirst, die in flight against high-voltage power lines, die from exhaustion or collision injuries, or are more easily preyed upon by birds of prey due to their striking white color”.
Österwitz disagrees with some of this criticism. There are certainly “black sheep” among the breeders who do not train the return flight. In such cases, the doves lack orientation and die after their appearance at the wedding. Long-standing breeders, on the other hand, never let their birds fly long distances without training, Österwitz is certain. He never sends his birds out in bad weather or rain. Under these circumstances, the doves are less able to orient themselves.
Wedding doves experience significant stress when handled by humans
Brandenburg’s animal welfare officer, Anne Zinke, also takes a critical view of the custom of letting doves fly at weddings. “Some doves are not able to fly sufficiently due to their physical constitution,” she says. In addition, being held in the hands, as is customary at weddings, causes stress for the doves.
Zinke believes that the legal basis for the permission required for the wedding pigeon business is in urgent need of revision. The requirements are noted in a passage of the Animal Protection Act, which dates back to the year 2000. It has been “neither adapted to the amendments made to the law since then nor to the current state of scientific knowledge”, emphasizes Zinke.
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According to Österwitz, pigeons are one of the most traditional breeding species in the world. They already existed in ancient times. They were on the front lines during the world wars. In some countries today, they can cost millions. The famous former boxer Mike Tyson is one of the most prominent representatives of the dove breeders’ guild.
The term “the common man’s racehorse” or “the feathered racehorse” was often used in the past. However, some specimens can cost well over 100,000 euros. Österwitz says he once paid around 2,500 euros for a breeding pigeon. “But you wouldn’t let one of those travel the routes.” The danger from hawks is too great.
With material from dpa