I work at a mortuary and cemetery and had a Buddhist funeral and casket burial. they selected white-winged dove stationary (normally Christian) but that is what they wanted for their mom. In the arrangement, they decided they wanted to do a dove release at the graveside, but didn’t want to spend what we charge- so they made arrangements on their own. On the day of the service, I noticed a truck with its tailgate open and 3 cat carriers with pigeons in them- like a city park, grey speckled pigeons. It was very cold and sleeting. Once we lowered the casket the family released the “doves” by dumping open the cat carriers, but the pigeons just walked around because it was too cold to fly. The family told me they saved money because the doves don’t come back, I didn’t have the heart to tell them “that’s because those are pigeons, not doves!”. The birds died in the cold over the next few days, even after I called them and let them know the birds were not surviving. They said, “just let nature take its course.”. uh, ok…
