Dove release at funeral ends badly

Guests at a funeral in the US were dealt another blow when a dove released during the service appeared to drop dead at their feet.

Footage of the solemn event posted to LiveLeak on Wednesday shows a preacher leading the ceremony in Vicksburg, Mississippi deliver a parting message to the symbolic white bird.

"Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest," he says, as he throws dove into the air - only for it to spiral back down in to the ground seconds later.

While it is not clear what caused the dove's untimely end, it is not the first time the symbolic gesture did not go according to plan.

In January, two doves released by children standing alongside Pope Francis as a peace gesture for Ukraine were immediately set upon by a seagull and a crow.

Both defenceless birds managed to escape, seemingly uninjured, to the relief of the Vatican's public relations team and the tens of thousands of onlookers below.

Author: Chloe Ross, Approving editor: Simon Black
Source: LiveLeak