diff --git a/clutter/clutter-id-pool.c b/clutter/clutter-id-pool.c
index b383e4bfd..53c7c6711 100644
--- a/clutter/clutter-id-pool.c
+++ b/clutter/clutter-id-pool.c
@@ -115,7 +115,14 @@ clutter_id_pool_lookup (ClutterIDPool *id_pool,
   g_return_val_if_fail (id_pool != NULL, NULL);
   g_return_val_if_fail (id_pool->array != NULL, NULL);
 
-  g_return_val_if_fail (id < id_pool->array->len, NULL);
+  if (id > id_pool->array->len)
+    {
+      g_warning ("The required ID of %u is outside the ID range; this "
+                 "usually implies that the pick() of an actor is not "
+                 "correctly implemented or that there is an error in the "
+                 "glReadPixels() implementation of the GL driver.", id);
+      return NULL;
+    }
 
   array = (void*) id_pool->array->data;