I came across a lovely story today. It’s over eight years old, but it beautifully sums up the passion and love so many have for the creatures we share our planet with.

Back in 2005 a group were attempting a world record in domino tipping when a house sparrow joined the crew – landed on one of the domino bricks and knocked over some 23,000 dominos. If the group had not set up safety gaps in the domino chain the sparrow could have knocked over all 4million and set his very own world record.

The unfortunate sparrow, part of a protected species, was hunted down and shot dead before it could do any more damage. He was just one bird.

Shortly after news broke, thousands of people came together in protest and over 24,000 people left tributes on a website that was set up for the ‘domino sparrow’. An animal protection organization took the exterminator to court for shooting and killing a protected species. They won the case.

It seems the death of this lone little sparrow triggered more than one domino effect. He won the hearts of thousands and gave some much-needed publicity to the cause of this beautiful but underrated bird that is facing such extreme population decline.