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Activists cry foul over killing of domino-spilling sparrow
Animal rights activists in the Netherlands want charges laid in the shooting of a rare sparrow that knocked over 23,000 dominoes as a TV company was setting up for a world-record attempt.
The sparrow, which is on the national endangered list, had flown into an exposition centre on Monday in the northern city of Leeuwarden. After knocking over the dominoes, it 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. That was not the case," Dutch animal protection agency spokesman Niels Dorland told the Associated Press.
"I might add: Is it really necessary to kill a bird that knocked over a few dominoes for a game?" he said, adding that the agency plans to bring the case to national prosecutors.
The killing has sparked outrage in the Netherlands.
Death threats have reportedly been made against the man who killed the bird. A Dutch disc jockey has offered a reward of 3,000 euros ($3,500 US) to anyone who topples the dominoes before the official start.
About 100 people with the TV company Endemol NV had spent weeks at the centre setting up more than four million dominoes in an attempt to surpass the official Guinness world record for falling dominoes. The record is 3,992,397.
Endemol spokesman Jeroen van Waardenberg defended the killing of the bird.
"That bird was flying around and knocking over a lot of dominoes," van Waardenberg said. "More than 100 people from 12 countries had worked for more than a month setting them up."
Van Waardenberg added the company may set up a memorial or mention the dead bird during its television broadcast Friday.
But Dorland dismissed Endemol's reason for killing the sparrow.
"I think they were awfully fast to pull out a rifle. If a person started knocking over a few dominoes, they wouldn't shoot him, would they?"
eter, aka 
usty 
halk