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Vietnamese Peace Pigeons Appearing on Dinner Tables

   VOA News 27 December 2010
   This  photo  taken  on December 10, 2010 shows a few remaining pigeons
   resting  in  Hanoi's  Botannic Gardens. Two months after a ceremony in
   October,  2010  when  some  1,000  white pigeons were released marking
   Hanoi's millennium celebrations, most of the birds ha

Photo: AFP

   A  few  of  Vietnam's  white  "peace"  pigeons rest in Hanoi's Botanic
   Gardens, Dec. 10, 2010.

   The  man  who trained 1,000 white pigeons to be released over Hanoi on
   the  city's  1,000-year anniversary says more than half the birds have
   been killed - many to appear on Vietnamese dinner tables.
   In recent interviews, Pham Tai Thu has expressed his disappointment at
   the  loss  of  the birds, which he had hoped would thrive as a lasting
   symbol  of peace. He said some of the birds have been poisoned or died
   of diseases, while others were captured and sold to restaurants.
   Thu  said he painstakingly raised the birds and trained them to return
   to  the  Hanoi  Botanical Garden after their release during the city's
   anniversary  ceremonies  in early October.  He said he had hoped they
   would  create  large  flocks  to  represent  the city's emergence from
   decades of war.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

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