Sparrow shot dead after knocking 23,000 dominoes

A sparrow knocked over 23,000 dominoes in the Netherlands, nearly ruining a world record attempt before an exterminator shot it dead today.

The unfortunate bird flew through an open window at an exposition centre in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden where employees of television company Endemol NV have worked for weeks setting up more than 4 million dominoes in an attempt to break the official Guinness World Record for falling dominoes on Friday night.

Only a system of 750 built-in gaps in the chain had prevented the bird from knocking most or all of the dominoes over ahead of schedule, Domino Day organisers were quoted as saying by the NOS news agency.

The bird was shot by an exterminator with an air rifle while cowering in a corner.

The organisers are out to break their own record of 3,992,397 dominoes set last year with a new record of 4,321,000.