Sparrow shot to death in the netherlands!

[Supah 0]

I'd rather watch a sparrow than see some dominoes get knocked over too, but I'd want to see it outside living the life it was hatched into, not stuck in a huge hall, scared out of its wits until it starves to death or dies of stress.

Ed:- Man, my spelling sucks...

Heh at this local huge pet store they have these two escaped agopornisses (hope thats spelled right). When the first one escaped they soon found out the hall is too huge too catch him. Now these birds are social animals so they set a female free too. Now their a cosy little couple that flies through the hall chattering about. Quite nice too see. I don't get the impression their scared, more doing what they normally do. Equally I've seen sparrows in large buildings, they never struck me as unreasonably scared. These little scavangers aren't fearfull of humans when it comes too getting food from them. I still feel its wrong to kill an animal just for some entertainment show, especially if its about some retarded domino record attempt nobody but the participants care about.

[Ares1978 0]

Their population isn't just falling, it's returning to normal. Some of the sparrows have just adjusted to living around humans, because they provide food, shelter and protection against predators. Who knows, maybe the brown rat and the rock dove will be protected species in a decade or two.      

Anyway, what's the difference if one got shot? The only important thing is that its death was quick and painless.

Oh yeah, and the environmental organisation gave a nice example: What if one of the employees would fall and knock over the same amount of stones, would he/she be executed?

It's a stupid example (as any example given by an "environmental" organisation tends to be) and the answer is of course "No". But then again, he's a fuckup (human), not a sparrow (bird).

[Commando84 0]

haha lol the rat would become a protected spicies! in the papers they said something like rat invasion in stockholm and stuff like that, the hot summer and autumn made the rats spread around alot...

but i don't know how the situation is elsewhere

[Ares1978 0]

haha lol the rat would become a protected spicies!      in the papers they said something like rat invasion in stockholm and stuff like that, the hot summer and autumn made the rats spread around alot...

but i don't know how the situation is elsewhere  

Exactly my point. It's just a matter of time before some idiot decides that the (brown) rats need to be protected from the ones that have made it possible for them to become so common in the first place.

I haven't seen a rat in a couple of years, maybe that's a sign that they are becoming extinct? Then again, that last one was the size of a small bull terrier.

[Postduifje 0]

I know, I know, it's a really stupid discussion. But not nearly as stupid as the Domino D-day event itself. I think we should grasp every option available to fight this horrible event, which is solid proof of the reversal of evolution.

[Tigershark_BAS 0]

I for one, welcome our sparrow overlords when they achieve their stated goal of world domination.

[earl 0]

Quote[/b] ]Calvin: "Look, a dead bird!"

Hobbes: "It must've hit a window."

Calvin: "Isn't it beautiful? It's so delicate. Sighhh... once it's too late, you appreciate what a miracle life is. You realize that nature is ruthless and our existence is very fragile, temporary, and precious. But to go on with your daily affairs, you can't really think about that... which is probably why everyone takes the world for granted and why we act so thoughtlessly. It's very confusing. I suppose it will all make sense when we grow up."

Hobbes: "No doubt."

[denoir 0]

I once shot a sparrow (not 100% sure it was a sparrow, but it was a small bird anyway) by accident.. well, almost by accident. I was in the woods trying out a CO2 handgun. The bird was sitting on a branch some 50-100m away. Yes, I aimed for it, but I did not think there was a chance in hell I would hit it... but I did and it dropped dead.

I must admit, I did feel a bit bad about that.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

As always.. we kill thousands of birds each year with our cars and there are countries in europe where people shoot rare wild birds just for fun. (Malta).. actually its a allyear hobby over there!

Seriously, who gives a FXXXX about this individual bird? At least he had a chance to grow up without a cage.

[harley 3 1185 0]

I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have found another method of shoo-ing the damn bird away. I also think that there's not too much point getting too riled up about it except by denigrating the cruel bird-killers.

Just because they're "common as muck" doesn't mean that you can just kill them. Back in the nineteenth century somehow the Americans managed to wipe out ten billion-plus passenger pigeons! They weren't the most edible of birds so unless there was an American aristocracy who preferred pigeons to grouse, I still cannot fathom how so many got killed. There's always some kind of precedent...

[Ares1978 0]

Seriously, who gives a FXXXX about this individual bird?  At least he had a chance to grow up without a cage.

Then again, they don't have the brains to appreciate the luxury of getting good food, health care, protection against predators and shelter from heat, cold, rain, snow etc. and a life span twice as long.

Well, at least those that live in a cage don't know shit about being "free" either. Until somebody lets them out. Then they learn the hard way.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Ok this is getting very weird, the person that was ordered to kill the sparrow, recieved around 3000 hatemails, and some people treathened to burn the house of his daughter

I dont see anyone doing that when a person kills another person

[shinRaiden 0]

When I was much younger, through a confusingly complicated process we aquired a cockatiel from an experienced professional bird raiser.

We trimmed it's wing feathers so it wouldn't get too far, but otherwise let it out to roam the house a lot. The only one that needed supervising actually was my little brother as he'd stalk the bird all over the house and try to snatch it. The bird wasn't dumb in the least bit, it could tell who was who and who didn't tug at his tail feathers. If it spotted me heading for the bathroom, it would race after me and bob his head along the bottom of the door looking for a way in to come to me, and escape the clutches of my little brother.

We also let him roam under the table when we forgot to put him away some times. My mom joked that his job was to clean up all the goobers we dropped on the floor during dinner. In response to my begging requests for a dog, she also said "I already got 5, why do I need another?" Being the oldest of five siblings at the time, I didn't think that all too funny.

Sometime later after we moved up here, that same younger brother was out wandering in the woods behind your place investigating a large crow's nest. Standing underneath the nest, he saw one little head pop over the edge, then shove the runt over the side and out the nest. My brother caught the falling chick, and thought it was the coolest thing.

He lined an old rabbit cage and put a heater lamp on top and stuck the chick in a padded nesting box. He'd just been fishing the week before and had two large not-so-tasty chum salmon in the freezer. Since nobody was really enthusiastic about old chum (as opposed to a little more tasty Chinook) he started chunking that apart until it ran out and the chick could handle chicken feed.

As the chick grew bigger so did it's appetite. If you know anything about crows, you know they have a black hole for a gullet. But there's plenty of varmits here so lots of traps for mice, rats, and moles helped offset the chicken feed and stinky salmon. One day my mom opened the freezer to get some food out and found a triple-baged duct-taped box inside with a note with big letters saying "MOM: DO NOT OPEN". I had no involvement in that lapse in judgement, but there was threats of my brother being chopped up and stuffed in little bags in the freezer if he ever did something like that again without checking with her first. (it was a field mouse)

Anyway, as it got bigger we worked it to teach it how to fly. We're not exactly pro's in the area, but it's not that hard. First we started with walking. Then hopping. Then we stretched out the hopping distance. Then we got it up a little flapping for balance, and finally flight. Wings are meant to be stretched and wiggled, unless it's a kiwi then all they do is pick out ear wax and the crud between the toes.

Flight meant no more life in the cage, and "Chum" had to start foraging more. This was encouraged by cutting back the chicken feed. He'd often disappear for hours so we figured he was taking plenty care of himself. But every morning he'd be pacing the porch or roof gutter at 5am screaming for a breakfast snack or something to drink. Mangey bird, I guess that's what you get for raising a crow. We did train him to fly from and return to my brother's hand. We used a spare welding glove since we're to cheap and redneck to do falconry right.

Anyway, we went out of town that fall for ~2 weeks, and after we came back no more black shadow waiting to dive bomb us across the front porch. We figured he got tired of waiting and moved on. Good riddance, he was hungry, but it was fun.

[DBR_ONIX 0]

What I want to know is : Why the feck is it on a site "USA TODAY"

Anyway.. As pointed out, how many of you eat (probobaly very recently) some form of animal?

"Protecting" entertainment or not, saying that little animal getting shot (Which happens all the time on farms etc) is hypocritical, when you go and (albeit indirectly) condone the slaughter of waay waay waay more animals.. Besides, cooked-dead-animals are used in partys, thats for entertainment, but people still eat happily..

Meh, besides, any animal that knocks over that many dominos in my book rules

- Ben

[Mr. Cheese 0]

Ok this is getting very weird, the person that was ordered to kill the sparrow, recieved around 3000 hatemails, and some people treathened to burn the house of his daughter

I dont see anyone doing that when a person kills another person

*dons his balaclava and goes off to petrol bomb a medical animal testing facility whilst his friends go and hit the scientists with big sticks*

[earl 0]

DBR_ONIX, Can you compare eating an animal for sustenance with killing for entertainment, pleasure, or for a trite world record?  This particular story doesn't bother me much at all, but your argument is weak. I think you will find a lot of people can eat animals and be opposed to senseless killing without being hypocritical.

[DBR_ONIX 0]

Can you compare killing an animal for sustenance with killing for entertainment, pleasure, or for a trite world record? This particular story doesn't bother me much at all, but your argument is weak.

I think you will find a lot of people can eat animals and be opposed to senseless killing without being hypocritical.

Uhuh.. I was pointing out that a single bird killed for whatever reason doesn't mean anything in comparison to other varying animal slaughtering justifications

Meh, I can't be bothered to arguee about anything just now, to be honest *Goes away*

- Ben

{Edit : Yeh, I could have worded my first post better.. and this one.. See, thats why I don't want to start discussing anything like this, it doesn't put across what I want to say..}

[Ares1978 0]

DBR_ONIX, Can you compare eating an animal for sustenance with killing for entertainment, pleasure, or for a trite world record?  This particular story doesn't bother me much at all, but your argument is weak.  I think you will find a lot of people can eat animals and be opposed to senseless killing without being hypocritical.

Most people in Europe and the US don't have to eat animals for sustenance. Ask any vegan, vegetarian or animal rights assh.. activist. For us, it's 100% entertainment to eat for example beef instead of grass & twigs & shit and that's fine by me.

[Student Pilot 0]

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it was a joke.  Now I see that some of you are actually serious...

This is a sparrow.  A small, very common bird.  This small, very common bird managed to get itself into a building with a few million dominoes.  This small, very common bird knocks down around 23,000 dominoes.  Someone shoots this bird before it can knock down more.

What's the problem?  Am I missing something?  Why is this even in the news?  

...why in the hell am I even debating this?

*gets a life*

-Pilot

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Someone shoots this bird before it can knock down more.

What's the problem?  Am I missing something?  Why is this even in the news?

That's the point, people are seeing it as taking the life of an animal to save a piece of entertainment.

Personally I look at it on the basis that there was an animal causing a nuisance that was got rid of through the only method that was likely to succeed in the end.

If the dominoes weren't there they'd probably have waited longer to see if it got out itself before getting an exterminator but the end result would probably have been the same; sparrows aren't especially bright little things so it's unlikely that it'd get out on its own, they are however bright enough to make catching one of the buggers in a large space so that it can be freed, almost impossible. I'm sure plenty of birds have been shot inside buildings when they were causing nowhere near as much disturbance.

It's not a necessary solution but it's an acceptable one in my book.

[earl 0]

For me, the story is 99% funny and 1% tragic. But I think there is still a line, however blurry or faded for some people, between killing something to eat it and killing something for:

-saving a bunch of dominoes

-selling its pelt/tusks/paws/gall bladder/penis

-target practice

-curiosity about terminal ballistics.

But speaking of PETA and off-the-deep-end-bleeding-heart-activists, has anyone seen the documentary Grizzly Man by Werner Hertzog? If not, I highly recommend it. Again, it's funny/tragic.

[Heatseeker 0]

Ok, if you insist...

Many, many years ago i adopted a black cat, it was a terrible and wild animal (seriously) who started visiting my backyard atracted by the smell of food, curious about him i started putting food for him outside daily and eventualy he domesticated me! .

Unlike the normal cat this one didnt like to be pet and i dont remember ever hearing him purrr, it was an amazingly independent creature who followed his own personal set of rules, if i bothered him too much he would roar at me and one time he actually charged at me really pissed off.

I had some sort of strange respect and admiration for this big black cat and his way of showing his apretiation for my friendship was to place gifts outside my bedroom window...

Dead mice, moles, small baby rabits (i live in a half rural place) and the weirdest of all... decapitated sparrow corpses. It was a horrible sight .

So if want to start a revolution because someone shot one sparrow you need to rethink your list of worthy causes, while im not a enthusiast of dominos i understand these people do work hard and patiently for this strange hobby, if we evaluate this bird's chances of survival you will realise the decision to eliminate him wasnt such a harsh one, he was risking many months of "work" while having very little chances of surviving.

If you are concerned about the extintion of these cute little animals go outside and plant a tree, because over here sparrows build their nests in trees and enjoy a healthy and happy life away from urban stress and polution .

[Bordoy 0]

1: I've got a tree in my back garden

2: Should we legalise murder because we are going to die anyway?

Even if there was a 1% chance of the bird surviving the winter, then it should be given the chance.

[Student Pilot 0]

Quote[/b] ]2: Should we legalise murder because we are going to die anyway?

We are talking about an animal, right?

Animals don't have the same basic rights humans have. Animals aren't even equal to man. They are here on earth to serve man. To imply they are equal to man and as a result have the same rights as man is wrong.

-Pilot

[harley 3 1185 0]

Ah, I forgot. The Golden Eagle is our servant; I'll harness up a dozen of them and have them tow my chariot across the land. Or how about a Blue Whale; stick it in a tuxedo and it can serve me dinner at the Waldorf Astoria - he's got a Green Card, so it's alright for him to serve me.

Okay, so maybe that's taking it a bit too far. Maybe it's not a case of rights for animals, but human morals. Whoever can't keep a sparrow out of their "Record-Breaking" domino hall doesn't deserve a World Record. Sure, it's okay to go hunting, but to kill a bird for the sake of some damn dominoes is just ..... . Sad