We came across multiple posts on the social media platform X about the following topic:

The posts claim that in 2014, doves released by the pope in Vatican City along with a young boy and girl were ‘immediately and randomly killed’ in front of a large crowd by a seagull and a crow. The doves were said to be released in a symbolic gesture for peace in Ukraine in the early stages of the Maidan Revolution, when clashes between protesters and security forces had led to multiple deaths.

When we conducted a search on the story, we found that it was accurate that doves released by the pope had been attacked simultaneously by a yellow-legged gull and a hooded crow. We found articles in multiple reputable news publications, such as BBC and CBC, that corroborated the story of the attacks.

However, the articles did not report that the doves were killed. While the reports indicated that the crow pecked repeatedly at one dove and that the other dove lost some feathers to the gull, they both said that the doves flew off after breaking away from their assailants.

Feathery Embellishments

A deeper dive into the previous reports on the bird attacks revealed that several news outlets may have reported the news in a sensational fashion. iMediaEthics, a non-profit site that investigates media ethics lapses, found that several otherwise reputable media outlets had embellished their reports with details that were not substantiated.

For example, it noted that the BBC, Mediaite and the Daily Mail had reported that the doves were mauled ‘as soon as’, or ‘immdiately after’ they were released.

The extent of the birds’ injuries may also have been exaggerated, with the BBC reporting ‘avian tweets of anguish’ and Gawker suggesting that the gull had drawn blood from the dove (many gulls have natural red marks on their beaks). The LA Times also suggested that the doves were possibly dead.

There was also uncertainty regarding the spectators of the event, with several sources reporting ‘thousands of onlookers’ watching the attacks. In addition, iMediaEthics noted that Reuters and USA Today suggested that the pope was unfazed by the attacks and embraced the boy next to him while the girl laughed.

CTV, the Vatican Television Centre, distributed video of the event, clearly showing that the pope and the children had left the window some time before the attacks had begun. There was also no indication that the large crowd present during the pope’s speech was aware of the doves’ interactions with the gull and crow.

Across all media sources, there was no definitive conclusion that the doves had been killed.

Explaining the Attacks

When we investigated the cause of the attacks, we found that the cause could have been multifaceted. The National Geographic pointed out that the doves, which were bred to be unnaturally pure-white, could have attracted more attention and aggression than usual from predators due to their prominent appearance.

iMediaEthics consulted ornithologists who explained that while the descriptions of the seagull and the crow as predators in the media were ‘qualified’, they were not typical as they did not have the talons of typical birds of prey and often resorted to scavenging instead.

Audubon, an organisation supporting conservation of birds, suggested that the predatory characteristics of crows and the gulls were opportunistic; despite being largely scavengers, they would take on the role of predators when encountering easy targets.

Audubon suggested that apart from the colour, the doves bred in captivity would have likely been confused when released, which could be seen in video footage of the event when they appeared to ‘flutter about’ helplessly.

This behaviour, together with their striking appearance, could attract attention for predation or bullying, and Audubon noted that crows and gulls often harassed weaker birds for the fun of it.

Killing the Story

While the claims that the doves released by the pope were attacked by a gull and a crow are therefore accurate, the claims have been heavily exaggerated to suggest that they were immediately attacked and were killed. These claims follow media reports about the event that have also been sensationalised.

There is no evidence to support the claim that they were killed, while video shows that some time passed between the release of the doves and the attacks by the gull and the crow.

As such, we find the claim to be false.