The answer is: it all depends

Dutch animal rights activists are upset that a sparrow was shot dead by members of a TV company who were trying to set a new world falling domino record.

The sparrow posed a risk to the 4 million dominoes that were being set up in one of those elaborate designs where pushing one causes all to fall.

"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 TV guys thought so.

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 Endemol spokesman Jeroen van Waardenberg.

They did offer a bit on consolation.

He said the company was considering some kind of memorial or mention for the dead bird during the television broadcast Friday.

The animal rights spokesman was not amused.

"I think they were awfully fast to pull out a rifle. If a person started knocking over a few dominoes they wouldn't shoot him would they?"

Hmmm ... we're thinking, we're thinking.