Monday, December 12, 2005

Sparrow Dies, Record Set


A sparrow which was shot dead for knocking over 23,000 dominoes in the Netherlands is to go on display at Rotterdam's Natural History Museum.
The bird almost spoiled a televised world record attempt before it was killed with an air rifle.

The shooting caused a public outcry. Animal rights groups condemned the bird's killing last month and a website was erected in its honour.

On Friday, the bird's killer was fined for shooting a protected species.

Prosecutors said the exterminator who killed it should have known better and fined him 170 euros ($200).

The organisers argued the killing was justified, as more than 100 people had worked for a month setting up the dominoes, but they held a TV memorial for the bird.

They went on to topple about four million dominoes, claiming a new record - which still has to be verified by Guinness World Records.

The bird was kept in a government freezer after its killing became a criminal matter.

It will be placed on top of a box of dominoes in an exhibition on sparrows next year.

Official Condolence Website (In Dutch)

San Nakji for President!

3 comments:

Oricon Ailin said...

*sighs* It's terrible that human events get in the way of these little creatures. The bird was only doing it's normal 'bird' stuff and didn't know any better.

It's amazing the things that humans place as more important than a life these days. *sighs*

coolbuddha said...

Poor thing.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, some people would not define a sparrow as having a 'life'.