Dove Love
We love our purple Knights in the season of Indian Premier League, but right now it’s a li’l purple bird that we can’t get enough of! Trash Dove, an animated Facebook sticker in different avatars created by Syd Weiler, set the Internet aflutter soon after it was released on Facebook in end-January. 

What does Trash Dove mean?
We’re still looking for an answer along with the rest of you. All we know is that it’s something that Syd, a Florida-based Adobe Creative Resident, sketched while sitting by a pond. Trash was added to its name because, “Pigeons are such strange birds, they have very beautiful mottled, shimmery feathers, but they waddle around and bob their heads and beg for crumbs. They’re like beautiful doves, except they eat trash,” Syd told The Guardian.

Why did it go viral?
The Trash Dove went viral after it was featured in a video alongside a dancing cat on a Facebook page in Thailand. Since then, it has been in every meme, comment and messenger chat in Thailand. And soon the rest of the world caught up with it. 

But what’s with the ‘trashing’?
Not everyone is a fan of Trash Dove. “The fan art and nice comments have been the highlight for me, but I’m amazed at how mean people can be to someone they’ve never met, because of something silly online. I didn’t ask for or sign up for any of this, but many people are blaming me, and I’ve even received some threats,” said Syd. An Australian user of change.org has even started a petition to ban Trash Dove!

What’s next? 
Syd has already started working with raccoons and she’s planning to call it either Trash Pandas or Trash Bandits.