Domino Day 2005 sparrow
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The Domino Day 2005 sparrow (generally known as the domino sparrow) was a House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, that was shot and killed by a hunter from the company Duke Faunabeheer in the Frisian Expo Centre in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands during the preparations of Domino Day 2005 on 14 November 2005. With only four days to go until Domino Day 2005, the bird flew into the building and landed on several domino bricks, eventually causing 23,000 of them (out of 4 million) to fall. Because of the protective gaps that were placed between groups of bricks, the damage was limited. Faunabeheer was hired to remove the unwanted intruder from the centre. After trying to capture the sparrow with nets and sticks, the company decided to shoot the bird.
The Dierenbescherming, a large animal protection organisation, went to court against Faunabeheer and the production company Endemol for their actions against the domino sparrow. The public prosecutor fined the shooter 200 euros for illegally killing an animal belonging to a protected species. The sparrow was inside the domino day area for a whole 8 hours before they brought the man in the next morning to kill the bird.
After several Dutch newspapers and television stations announced what had happened in the Frisian Expo Centre, several animal rights organisations, popular blogs like GeenStijl.nl and radio DJs like Ruud de Wild devoted time and attention to the subject. They claimed that killing an animal in order to save a television show is a low deed, and accused the shooter of having no respect for animal life. The latter two said that they were willing to give a 5,000€ reward to "the person who could complete the sparrow's task" by causing all the other bricks to fall down. However, nobody was able to do this since the security around the Frisian Expo Centre tightened following the sparrow incident and death threats against Faunabeheer, SBS Broadcasting, and Endemol.
A month after the sparrow's death, the Dutch Public Prosecutor handed the bird over to the Natuurhistorisch Museum in Rotterdam, as requested by its curator Kees Moeliker. The museum will display the mounted bird, together with other notable sparrows, in an exhibition on the House Sparrow from November 2006 to May 2007.
