So-called wedding doves are still popular today. The animals soar into the sky, to applause and confetti, but as soon as they’re out of sight, their minds change too – and in fact the opposite. Some of the white animals are soon cooing homeless with their gray counterparts on the window sills of apartment buildings, in market squares and on the roofs of bus stops. Until a human shoe comes flying and scares them away for a short time.
In the city of Erfurt, which is very rich in apartment buildings, bus stops and market places, this should now be over. Just before the start of the season, the local pigeon club calls for the end of the wedding pigeons. “The best day of life can be the last for the pigeons,” says Birte Schwarz, who heads the club. The Greens in the city council agreed and are now considering a ban. The pigeons sometimes do not find their way back home, so the argument goes, they increase the high population.
On the one hand, that’s just a side note in our commitment to animal welfare. On the other hand, there is hardly any other animal that is so much revered and so much cursed without it seeming a greater contradiction. Especially now that wedding and peace doves are in season.
“If I had to be an animal, I’d be a carrier pigeon.”
To this day, there are offers for white “wedding doves” on classifieds portals. The single pigeon is available for a few euros, borrowed or bought. Commercial providers are also located in many corners of the country. As a function, Christoph Schulte from the Association of German Letter Pigeon Breeders and Editor-in-Chief of “Letter Pigeon” has no problem with that, even if he thinks: So-called show pigeons should not be used as wedding pigeons because they cannot find their way back to their loft, which is a danger to the animals . Unlike carrier pigeons, who usually know their way home. “The carrier pigeons enjoy flying,” says Schulte. “If I had to be an animal, I’d be a carrier pigeon.” Birte Schwarz from the Erfurt pigeon club sees things differently: “The animals shouldn’t be used for something like this, neither as wedding pigeons nor as carrier pigeons.” Because the animals are separated from their dovecote.
It is unlikely that this wish will come true. The ritual has only been banned in a few cities – such as Bietigheim-Bissingen in Baden-Württemberg. The historical symbolic power of the dove seems to be too important.
The dove: symbolically transfigured and yet an animal for the stomach
Noah once sent the dove as a messenger out of the ark. Lovers are declared lovebirds. A football club in Uganda uses the dove in its name and coat of arms. Churches and communists have them as a symbol. There are other animals where humans decide to treat them in just one way: the pig is eaten, but only exceptionally allowed into the house. The dog is lifted onto the sofa, but only eaten as an exception. The dove has always been everything at the same time: symbolically transfigured and found on the menu, at least for a long time.
Up until the 19th century, 750,000 pigeons are said to have been eaten in Vienna every year. In Germany this is no longer the case. This may have something to do with the image that the pigeon got after the Second World War. The population grew in the cities, because the animals found a home in the ruins of bombed houses. Now there was talk of the “rat of the air” and at least in a figurative sense the pigeon lost its clean record. Which didn’t change the fact that she continued to be admired. In 1966 the Association of German Carrier Pigeon Breeders had more than 100,000 members. Today there are still 30,000.
In many inner cities, swarms of pigeons pouncing on breadcrumbs characterize the cityscape.
(Photo: Frank Hoermann/Sven Simon/Imago Images)
In the wild, however, cities remained urban areas for pigeons – to their own suffering. According to Nabu, 90 percent of city pigeons do not survive their first year of life. The high population also increases competition for food. Which brings us to the next human contradiction. Well-meaning grandparents and children throw bread and pretzels to the pigeons. But that has hardly any nutrients. The animals starve to death with full stomachs.
But some things are changing for the better. There are pilot projects in which the number of pigeons is limited. In Erlangen and Berlin, for example, the population could be significantly reduced without harming the animals. And some wedding planners are now also working on feather-free alternatives for the wedding dove. For example on cloud machines, with which foam can be blown into the sky in the desired shape.
But then there was the next problem, which came up on February 24, 2022. Birte Schwarz says that the number of peace doves has increased since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. On the radio she once heard about an elementary school class that wanted to fly pigeons to send a signal against the war. Schwarz called there and asked them to let it be. “No use.” The doves soared into the sky but thankfully returned.