Religious rituals?

More than three dozen doves await their fate at the Highlands County Animal Control after they were taken into custody during a marijuana grow house raid near River Ridge about two weeks ago.

Animal Control Director Darryl Scott said Wednesday that he believed the birds may have been intended for sacrificial use in Santeria-type religious ceremonies.

Scott said as a deputy and later as a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer he would come across altars in the woods and other situations involving certain types of animals including white pigeons, chickens and small goats.

"It's just my opinion from prior experiences as a deputy with the Highlands County Sheriff's Office," he said. "We'd come across instances that would make you believe that's what it's for."

Scott said he was further educated on the religious practice of Santeria when a Miami-Dade police officer informed him of certain things and gave him a book that described what to look for, symbols, types of animals, he had been seeing all along.

"I kind of pieced it together," he said. "Either they just liked doves or it was something else. I'd been looking at this stuff for years and didn't know what I was looking at."

He said the birds are often used in a rubbing ritual.

"If you're possessed, they kill a bird; kill it in a specific way and then rub the bird on you," he said. "That takes (the possessing spirit) out of you and it goes into the bird."

The 37 doves sat on poles or flapped about in a coop at the Animal Control shelter. Caretaker Teri Dosil was on hand to show the birds to Highlands Today.

What will happen to the doves now? Can't they just open up the coop and let them fly?

"We can't just let them go," said Dosil. "They don't belong to us at this point. A letter is being sent to the owner of the home."

Actually two certified letters are being mailed, according to Scott; one to the renters and one to the property owners stating they seized the animals.

These included: 37 doves, two pit bull dogs, a goat, roosters and chickens, four ducks, several ponies and a horse.

The letter explains they have until a certain date to contact Animal Control to claim the animals, otherwise the animals will be auctioned, Scott said.

"We had one once before and had about 40 people show up," he said.

Why not just free the birds?

"We can't turn them loose," said Scott. "They're a non-native species."

Scott had his doubts anyone would claim the animals.

"That would link them to the grow house," he said.

Sheriff's Capt. Randy LaBelle said Wednesday that he couldn't discuss much about the grow house case because it was still an open investigation, but the Special Investigations Division was looking for the birds' owners.

"We had a grow house but we never made an arrest," said LaBelle. "It was in the Bombing Range Road area - River Ridge."

About 30 marijuana plants were seized from a barn and electrical service from Florida Power had been diverted, he said.

LaBelle said he, too, had seen evidence of the Santeria religion at other grow houses he's helped take down.

What is 'Santeria'?

"Santeria or La Regla Lucumi is the secret and powerful religion originating in West Africa in what is now Nigeria and Benin, hailing from the traditional culture and worldview of the people now known as the Yoruba, according to http://www.orishanet.org/santeria.html .

"The slave trade brought many of these people to the shores of Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Trinidad and Puerto Rico, among others."