Just read Ten Birds! It was so interesting to me but doubt many nonbirders would really enjoy it like I did. The Four Pests campaign was one of the first actions by Mao in the Great Leap Forward in China from 1958 to 1962. Mao targeted four pests for elimination: rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. The extermination of sparrows was also known as the smash sparrows campaign! Sparrows ate rice grain! Mao’s decree resulted in the death of millions is the little song birds and in a severe ecological imbalance, being one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961. Yes, Tree Sparrows ate some rice but 3/4 of their diet was insects—locusts among them! Mao called off his edict to kill all sparrows and replaced it with bed bugs! Didn’t he know—God’s eye is on the sparrow!
1 comment:
I bet that was interesting reading:)
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