Published: Monday, 10th March, 2008 4:30pm

Tesco birds shot at dawn

TESCO hired a contractor to SHOOT DEAD endangered wild sparrows in its Dalrymple Street store.

The cheeky chirpers had been spotted in the store by a member of the public who filmed them on a mobile phone, sparking fears the birds could pose a health risk.

A Tesco insider has now revealed the sparrows were shot at dawn.

The insider said: 'They shut the shop at 6.15am.I saw two guys. They had a long box and brought out what looked like a rifle.

'I couldn"t tell if it was an air rifle, or a real gun, but it looked like a rifle with a telescopic lense on it.

'I saw them shoot one bird and saw it hit the deck. The shop was shut for about half an hour while they did it.

'I"ve worked in other places where birds have got in and they used a net to catch them alive.'

Wildlife campaigners have reacted to the cull with outrage.

Inverclyde animal rescuer Karen Wrigley said: 'If they had just called us we would have been more than happy to come in and assess the situation and help.

'It"s really important declining

species like this are kept alive if at all possible.

'It would have been nice to have been given the opportunity to try and get these birds out alive. We"ve done it before in supermarkets, banks and council premises, gone in and got the birds out successfully and still alive.'

Sparrows are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, but a loophole in Scots law allows landowners to kill the birds to preserve public health or safety.

If the birds had flown into a store in England, Tesco would have acted illegally by shooting them.

Sparrows have suffered a massive decline across the UK and are on the RSPB"s endangered "red-list".

They have been known to spread salmonella and West Nile virus, which can be fatal to humans.

A Tesco spokesperson said they were responding to complaints from customers.

The spokesperson added: 'Rentokil was called in and the sparrows were disposed of.

'At the end of the day, sparrows are not endangered or protected.

'All measures were tried to get the sparrows out in a nice way. In the end it didn"t work.

'Rentokil do a good job. It"s all completely humane. They are an accredited agency. They were called in and that is the end of the issue.'