A sparrow died for knocking over 23,000 dominoes

By Magere Hein - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

In November 2005, the Netherlands was preparing for Domino Day, an annual television event where millions of dominoes are arranged in elaborate patterns and toppled for a live audience. Four days before the broadcast, a house sparrow flew into the Frisian Expo Centre in Leeuwarden, landed on the wrong tile, and triggered a cascade that toppled 23,000 dominoes.

The organizers called Duke Faunabeheer, a pest control company, to remove the bird. After failed attempts with nets and sticks, they shot it.

The Netherlands did not take this well. Animal rights groups were outraged. The sparrow became a cause célèbre, with over 3,000 complaints filed. Someone created a website memorializing the bird. A minute of silence was proposed. The shooter received death threats so severe that he went into hiding.

The situation had legal dimensions too. House sparrows are protected under Dutch and European law, and killing one without proper authorization carries fines. The company was eventually prosecuted and fined €200, though some felt this was inadequate justice for what had become the most famous sparrow death in Dutch history.

Domino Day went ahead as scheduled. The remaining dominoes fell as planned. But the broadcast included a moment acknowledging the sparrow, and the incident became more memorable than whatever record they were trying to set that year. The bird was later stuffed and displayed at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, forever commemorating the day a sparrow became an enemy of the state.