Animal rights activists push Vatican not to release doves ‘to certain death’

c. 2014 Religion News Service

ROME (RNS) After two doves released by Pope Francis and two young children were attacked by aggressive predator birds, a leading animal rights group called on the pontiff to stop what they called “outdated traditions.”

The Vatican regularly releases doves as a symbol of peace, and in multiple instances they have been chased and sometimes captured by more aggressive fowl in the area. But Sunday’s (Jan. 26) events were more noteworthy because the scene of a seagull and a crow swooping in to attack the doves was captured by several of the photographers in St. Peter’s Square as a crowd of tens of thousands — including several thousand children — looked on.