Amsterdam, Netherlands – The Dutch animal-protection agency demanded prosecution Tuesday for the shooting 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 Monday in the northern city of Leeuwarden, where employees of TV company Endemol NV had worked for weeks setting up more than 4 million dominoes in an attempt to break the official Guinness world record for falling dominoes.
The common house sparrow – of a species on the national endangered list – was chased into a corner and shot by an exterminator with an air rifle.
“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,” said agency spokesman Niels Dorland. “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?” he asked. He said the agency plans to submit the case to national prosecutors.
The Endemol organizers, who are out to break their own record of 3,992,397 dominoes during a live television broadcast Friday, defended the killing.
“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,” said Endemol spokesman Jeroen van Waardenberg.
