Mourning Dove

Burnished breast
Originally uploaded by Lida Rose.

A Dozen Animal Stories for 2005 from the Humane Society.
#8 is: Michigan mourning dove hunts are canceled

In June 2004, Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm backed away from a campaign promise and signed a bill into law that overturned a 99-year-old ban on hunting mourning doves - an animal that the Michigan House of Representatives had earlier named the state bird of peace. Following the state's first dove hunt in a century, animal advocates rallied around the bird and launched a petition drive to gather enough signatures to place a measure on the 2006 Michigan ballot. In March, those advocates turned in more than 275,000 signatures, 73% more than required.

Three months later, the state certified the signatures, which not only placed the anti-dove-hunting measure on the ballot, but also canceled the dove hunts for 2005 and 2006.

- Touille, who has eaten other types of bird, but would not want to eat a bird of peace