BIGGEST LOSERS SO FAR

BIGGEST LOSERS SO FAR
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The Dutch animal-protection agency demanded prosecution Tuesday for the shooting of a sparrow that knocked over 23,000 dominoes during an attempt to set a world record.
The bird flew into an exposition center Monday in Leeuwarden, where employees of TV company Endemol NV had worked for weeks setting up more than 4 million dominoes in an attempt to break the official Guinness World Record for falling dominoes.
The common house sparrow -- of a species on the national endangered list -- 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,'' said agency spokesman Niels Dorland. ''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?'' he asked.
The Endemol organizers, who are out to break their own record of 3,992,397 dominoes during a live television broadcast on Friday, defended the killing.
''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,'' said an Endemol spokesman.
He said the company was considering some kind of memorial for the dead bird during the TV broadcast.
Dorland scoffed. ''If a person started knocking over a few dominoes they wouldn't shoot him, would they?''