2
Happenings
by Elliott Bedows
To Kill a `Sparrow-bird'
I don't know about you, but other than for spam, I am used to having my email box filled with requests for money, requests for letters to be written to our legislators on pertinent environmental issues, or verbiage on the location of interesting bird species recently seen.
But this past week has been an entirely different story; my email box is now filled with literally 100-plus reports concerning a group of Dutch entrepreneurs intent on setting a new Guinness Book of World Record for the number of falling dominoes. Accordingly, these people sent a news team in to cover this event. But to the dismay of all, a House Sparrow inadvertently got into the arena where the domino contest was being held and, regrettably, being scared, the Sparrow knocked over about 23,000 of the eventual 4.1 million dominoes.
Without hesitation, the sparrow was killed. Although this fact was intially disputed, the security guard who shot and killed the bird with an air rifle eventually said in a subsequent interview that he "just came in and shot the bird [because] using nets [to save the Sparrow] would have been too much of a risk [to the dominoes]."
The organizers defend their action by saying that "a lot of people have put in a lot of time organizing the event [and now] people are saying money (or greed) played an important role in the decision. This is an annual event in Holland, which started as an out-of-hand evening for some boys, but it has turned into a very commercial thing, which the TV Company tries to sell as a national event [to] keep the world record Dutch. . .It will be broadcast live in several countries, including Holland, and to the very large German market as well. Commercial prices are high around the event, so you could safely say money does play an important part in the decision."
And that set off a flurry of protests from around the globe. In the Netherlands, where the incident happened, the House Sparrow is a fully protected species since its numbers have declined by more than 50% over the last decade as they have throughout Europe.
On November 16 the UK newspaper, The Guardian, reported that the Dutch Animal Protection Society is looking into this incident. In fact, the Dutch Animal
Protection Society began investigating the claim the very next day. The Society plans to submit the case to prosecutors. Even our own ESPN - the largest sports network in North America - reported (and I personally read this account) that "the Dutch television show claimed to have knocked down a chain of more than 4.1 million dominoes Friday in a new world record, but organizers conceded the event was overshadowed by the earlier shooting of an errant sparrow. The sparrow was killed by an exterminator with an air rifle on Monday after it knocked down 23,000 dominoes. The killing was seen by many as an overreaction and angered animal rights and bird protection groups. Endemol, the TV firm which organized the event, defended the killing, saying more than 100 people had worked for more than a month setting up the dominoes."
Oh......that certainly justifies the killing of a bird. Or, as Norway's Eddie Chapman summed it up, "The [endangered] status of the bird should not be entered into the discussion. It is irrelevant if the bird is endangered or not. A live creature should not be killed for this reason. Someone asked if people involved in creating the record attempt, who by accident knocked some stones over as well, also should be shot." (Good point, Eddie.)
Research has proven that House Sparrow populations have declined up to 50% or more in some areas of Europe. If things progress at this rate, then the American population could be vital to the future survival of the species. While we do not need House Sparrows yet, what we do need is to find out why populations are crashing. Could it be pollution?
An important fact to remember is that during the breeding season, House Sparrows only feed their young insects during the first few weeks, thereby doing a good job of keeping the balance regarding insect populations. Though its contribution may be relatively small, it certainly plays a part in keeping a balance in nature, as do all species.
In today's world of climate change and vanishing forests, I think that any national company, such as the TV
