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Don't mess with the Dominoes
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:27 pm
by tazlah
Sparrow shot for downing domino record bid
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?" ...
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.
He said organizers had believed the building was fully sealed against birds and mice. The company is considering some kind of memorial or mention for the dead bird during the television broadcast Friday, he added.
But Dorland said shooting the sparrow to ensure the success of the program was an overreaction.
"I think they were awfully fast to pull out a rifle," he said. "If a person started knocking over a few dominoes they wouldn't shoot him would they?"
A Dutch website called Geenstijl offered a $1,200 reward for anybody who knocks over the dominoes ahead of time to avenge the bird.
Hans Peeters, director of the Netherlands Bird Protection agency, called the killing "ridiculous." ...
Found
here.
My question is: After shooting it with a Rifle, how'd they even know it was a sparrow?
And, Why would anyone have a rifle at a Domino event???
Re: Don't mess with the Dominoes
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:16 pm
by Redskin in Canada
tazlah wrote: And, Why would anyone have a rifle at a Domino event???
Maybe it was a domino event held at an NRA Convention?
I heard
Dave Butz (click here)was the NRA keynote speaker with the lecture entitled:
"What to do with the feathers of a meddling sparrow coming across the middle of the line"
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:45 pm
by REDEEMEDSKIN
The rifle is to stop terrorists who might wanna topple the towers of dominoes.
Hey, it could happen.
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:19 pm
by SkinsFanInHawai'i
Isn't an air rifle just a bb-gun?
I don't think there is any reason to beat your own record, especially if its dominoes.
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 4:04 pm
by UK Skins Fan
Boy, I thought our Dutch brothers were a lot more chilled out than that. Mind you, I was over there a couple of months back, and if I spent my whole life dodging cars, trams and bikes, I'd start to get a bit jumpy.
My guess is that if you're the sort of person who gets a kick out of lining up 4 million dominoes, then you're probably slightly unhinged in the first place.
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 4:10 pm
by skins81
UK Skins Fan wrote:Boy, I thought our Dutch brothers were a lot more chilled out than that.
If you try to take someone's hash brownie in Amsterdam they break out the air rifles. That's an internet fact.
Re: Don't mess with the Dominoes
Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:33 pm
by redskins12287
[The company is considering some kind of memorial or mention for the dead bird during the television broadcast Friday, he added.
hahahahaha. can you imagine what that would look like?
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:19 am
by Warmother
What everybody here seems to forget is that if this rogue sparrow hadn't been stopped what would he have attacked next? It might have been children or even puppy's, gasp! Imagine the horror. What if this sparrow got into a plane and crossed the Atlantic to North America. Domineos, kids and puppy's would have been in danger. I think they did the right thing to a crazy bird that killed 23,000 tiles.
Then again they could have just opened the window and forced him out.
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:12 am
by UK Skins Fan
You can't just open a window when there are 4 million dominoes in the room. One freak wind, and the carnage caused by the sparrow would be small fry.
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:15 am
by UK Skins Fan
Warmother wrote:What everybody here seems to forget is that if this rogue sparrow hadn't been stopped what would he have attacked next? It might have been children or even puppy's, gasp! Imagine the horror. What if this sparrow got into a plane and crossed the Atlantic to North America. Domineos, kids and puppy's would have been in danger. I think they did the right thing to a crazy bird that killed 23,000 tiles.
Then again they could have just opened the window and forced him out.
Presumably, it would only have been a force out if, in the official's opinion, the bird would have had both feet inside the window when he landed, had he not been pushed? Otherwise, it's an incompletion, surely?