Posted on 11/16/2005 1:33:42 PM PST by grjr21
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- The Dutch animal protection agency said Tuesday it is investigating the shooting death of a sparrow that knocked over 23,000 dominoes during an attempt to set a world record.
The ill-fated bird flew into an exposition center, threatening to derail a world record Monday, before it was chased into a corner and shot by an exterminator with an air rifle.
The bird was a common house sparrow -- a species placed on the national endangered list last year.
"Under Dutch law, you need a permit to kill this kind of bird, and a permit can only be granted when there's a danger to public health or a crop," agency spokesman Niels Dorland said.
"That was not the case. I might add, is it really necessary to kill a bird that knocked over a few dominoes for a game?"
Dorland said the agency plans to submit the case to national prosecutors. The incident came as the national birdwatchers association was preparing a campaign to draw attention to the rapidly declining number of sparrows in the country.
The Endemol production company, which organized the Domino Day event, defended the killing. The organizers wanted to break their own Guinness World Record of 3,992,397 dominoes set last year by toppling a chain of 4,321,000 blocks.
Around 200,000 dominoes were left to go, and the bird knocked down 23,000 of them.
Endemol spokesman Jeroen van Waardenberg said organizers made a "split-second" decision to shoot down the bird.
"That bird was flying around and knocking over a lot of dominoes. More than 100 people from 12 countries had worked for more than a month setting them up," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Domino abuse is disgusting.
The US could ship them several million of these pests and still have several million left over.
I beleive they are a Weaver Finch and not a sparrow at all...
Look, what goes around comes around....
There's a cat in town
That you might know.
He goes by the name of Domino...
None
Thanks for sharing your opinion with the thread. Have a great day.
Thanks for sharing your opinion with the thread. Have a great day.
I agree with you, Brah. Can't understand why some Heineken-soaked guy wearing wooden shoes had to shoot the poor little one.
Thanks for sharing your opinion with the thread. Have a great day.
Can't understand why some Heineken-soaked guy wearing wooden shoes had to shoot the poor little one.
----He was ignorant and obviously he gets his rocks off killing birds.
Now that's funny.
There are many different sparrow in the US. Which one are you referring to?
"House Sparrows" are a nest parasite and they are not protected here because they displace song birds such as Blue Birds contributing to their decline.
There are several websites devoted to eliminating them...
What do you mean? An African or European sparrow?
Even the Sparrow King from the "Lemmiwinks" episode of South Park hasn't gotten this kind of press.
I wonder what the penalty would be for feeding them Alka-Seltzer?
Thanks for sharing your opinion with the thread. Have a great day.
That wasn't my opinion, it is a fact. Have your mommy help you look it up...
Tell your Daddy :Thanks for sharing his opinion with the thread. Have a great day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.