Throwing Rice at Weddings - Can it Hurt Birds?
Friday, June 22nd, 2007On my drive in to work today, I heard a story on NPR’s “Nature Watch” segment about the myth of harm to birds by throwing rice at weddings.
I’m sure you have all heard of people changing their ways to protect the birds. It has long been said that by throwing rice at the bride and groom after a wedding can harm a bird. People say that when the bird eats the rice, the rice expands inside the bird’s stomach, causing the bird to actually explode. I always believed this and have thrown bird seed at weddings instead.
Well, Nature Watch told me this morning that the whole rice story is really a myth. They said that birds eat rice all the time in the wild and it has no harmful effects on them.
So this left me thinking…the next time I see a bird explode over my head while in flight, what the heck caused it?
