December 11, 2005

The preserved body of a sparrow shot for knocking over 23,000 dominoes...

Will be displayed -- on top of a box of dominoes -- in 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....

The organisers argued the killing was justified, as more than 100 people had worked for a month setting up [four million] dominoes, but they held a TV memorial for the bird.
Here's the memorial website. I can't really picture what the TV show was like. Why is the news from the Netherlands always so odd?

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, if had been anything less than 20,000 dominos, then I just don't see lethal force being justified. But 23,000? I hear fried sparrow tastes like chicken.

Gahrie said...

Two words: decriminalized drugs

Scrutineer said...

Why is the news from the Netherlands always so odd?

Probably because only the odd stuff is interesting enough to attract our attention. Remember the New Republic's candidate for "most boring headline ever" (to Americans)?

john(classic) said...

At the Biological Gardens in Amsterdam they have a small coffe shop. The upper windows are kept open so that small birds can fly in and feed on the crumbs.

Quite charming --except
that the birds defecate.

Unknown said...

I don't read Dutch...but I hope that site is a parody site.

XWL said...

My theory about noone with any 'cojones' left in Europe is starting to sound pretty reasonable. (from previous NYT ideas comment thread)

(Their reproduction rates also would bear out the point)

Cousin Don said...

It's the wooden shoes. All that clacking and clicking when people walk makes people go batty.

Peder said...

Did anyone else think of Lenin's tomb?

Al Maviva said...

Apparently, it is true: There is special providence even in the fall of a sparrow.