People of China were mobilized to eradicate the Sparrows. They used beating drums to scare the birds from landing, forcing them to fly until they died of exhaustion.
People tore down sparrow nests and shot sparrows down from the sky. The result of the campaign was to push the birds close to extinction in China. [Gov. Plan]
It was noticed that insect infestation of crop fields had soared. Sparrows ate pests such as locusts, and after the campaign, the locusts lost their major predator.
The sparrows, it seemed, didn’t only eat grain seeds. They also ate insects.
Locust populations boomed and they ate everything in their path. Grain production in most rural areas collapsed and a massive famine began. People ran out of things to eat and millions starved.
The official number of fatalities from the Chinese government was 15 million. However, some scholars' estimats were as high as 45 or even 78 million.
We still take these decisions today but never talk about the side effect.
Just a thought
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