Releasing untrained white doves at weddings and funerals will see worrying increase in wild across UK

The rise may create problems for the environment

By Telegraph Reporter

1:03PM GMT 16 Mar 2016

The fashion of releasing white doves at weddings and funerals could see them multiply across the UK and create problems for the environment.

The RSPB and nature reserves said they have received an increase in calls and sightings of the bird.

While most companies that provide doves for functions use birds with a homing instinct so that they return to their owners, the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) has warned that some may release trained doves which are then left in the wild, the Times has reported.

The RSPB said that it was becoming increasingly common for people to release white doves at ceremonies, which could create problems if numbers were allowed to increase unchecked.

In Victorian times, it was common to keep parakeets as pets and some of them escaped into the wild, living in numbers around the country. In the 1960s, they suddenly began breeding in Kent and their population has now increased to around 5,000.

Linda Milnes, who runs Destiny Doves, a Lancashire which releases the birds for weddings and funerals, told The Times: "My doves are trained like racing pigeons so they always come back.

“But often I quote people a price and they decide to go and buy some which is cheaper.

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Four men caught with 209 doves on second day of season in Kansas

BY BECCY TANNER

THE WICHITA EAGLE

09/07/2014 11:39 AM 

09/07/2014 10:24 PM

Four men who were stopped in rural Ellis County last week with 209 doves in their possession have outraged hunters and outdoor enthusiasts across the state.

The men were stopped Tuesday, the second day of dove season. The daily limit is 15 doves per hunter.

“I hope they throw the book at them and take them to federal court and give them jail time,” said Spencer Tomb, a retired Kansas State University botany professor in Riley County and an avid hunter.

“We have game laws so everybody gets a fair chance at hunting. And they did that in one day?”

Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism officials are in the process of deciding what type of charges the four will face, whether it will be on a federal or state level, said Dan Melson, law enforcement supervisor for the western region of Wildlife and Parks. The four have yet to be charged, he said.

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Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article1848988.html#storylink=cpy

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Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article1848988.html#storylink=cpy

Doves doing well in Texas

Photo courtesy Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

Mourning dove

Seven species of doves are indigenous to Texas, and all are flourishing, said Shaun Oldenburger, who is the Migratory Shore and Upland Game Bird program leader for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Experts said the hunting outlook for the first dove season this year should be good.

Posted: Sunday, August 3, 2014 4:30 am

SUSAN SHARP | FME NEWS SERVICE | 0 comments

BY SUSAN SHARP

FME NEWS SERVICE

TEMPLE — The dove population is alive and well in Texas.

Seven species of doves are indigenous to Texas, and all are flourishing, said Shaun Oldenburger, who is the Migratory Shore and Upland Game Bird program leader for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

Part of Oldenburger’s job is to measure the population levels of doves in the state. He has especially been keeping an eye on two species that are legal to hunt, the mourning and white-winged doves, because both populations have fluctuated during the past decade or so.

The mourning dove population has been declining for the past seven or eight years; however, that dove species is still one of the most numerous in the United States, he said.

“We still have a lot of mourning doves,” Oldenburger said. About 160 million mourning doves live in Texas, and 350 million of them live in the United States.

White-winged doves also are numerous, although from the 1960s to the 1980s their numbers were dropping. Because of hunting restrictions, their numbers have increased, he said. Now, the Texas population of these birds is estimated at about 15 million, and special restrictions were lifted.

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Hunters have few excuses for not pursuing doves

If you are looking for an excuse not to hunt doves, don’t look to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Its staff has prepared 178 fields in 95 of Missouri’s 114 counties especially for dove hunting. No one in the state is far from a dove field.

Missouri’s dove season runs from Sept. 1 through Nov. 9. The daily limit is 15. In years past, the possession limit was twice the daily limit. This year, however, the Missouri Conservation Commission increased the possession limit to 45.

Mourning doves make up the vast majority of Missouri’s dove harvest, but Eurasian collared doves and white-winged doves also are found in the Show-Me State and are legal during dove season. Missouri residents age 16 through 64 must buy a small game hunting permit to pursue doves. All dove hunters 16 and older must have a Missouri Migratory Bird Hunting Permit.

More than 20,000 Missourians hunt doves. Why do so many people pursue such a small bird? Partly because doves are challenging game. They fly at speeds of up to 55 mph and perform aerial maneuvers that would inspire a “top gun’s” envy.

Doves’ popularity also stems from their abundance. When they aren’t humiliating hunters (who average approximately five shots per dove taken), doves are nesting. They start in March and continue well into September, often rearing six clutches in a year. This year’s nesting season got off to a slow start on account of cool weather. On the whole, however, weather has been favorable, and the Conservation Department predicts a strong hatch.

Each year, the Conservation Department plants sunflowers, corn wheat, sorghum and other crops at conservation areas to provide food for doves and other wildlife. These fields typically are treated in the weeks leading up to Sept. 1 to create prime feeding spots for doves. This practice also creates excellent hunting.

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