i see a lot of people beating up on sparrows, both online and in person. people don’t like them because they’re invasive, and disturb native birds and habitats. they’re loud and disruptive. they gather where people gather, and are therefore a nuisance. i’m biased; i really like sparrows. i spent a lot of time feeding them and watching them as a kid (and now, too) and got to know how big their personalities can be and also got to witness their intelligence and their ability to have complex social structures. we’ve given sparrows enough hell, in my opinion.
on that subject…let’s talk about the great sparrow campaign.
the great sparrow campaign also known as the “four pests campaign” and “kill a sparrow campaign” was one of the first actions taken during the Great Leap Forward between 1958 to 1962 in China. the campaign was introduced by chairman mao, as a hygiene campaign. four pests were identified as enemies – mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows.
not only were sparrows viewed as unhygienic, they were seen as an agricultural pest, feeding off of crops of fruit and grain. the Chinese government also declared that “birds are animals of public capitalism,” fueling hatred of them. the objective of the campaign was to completely eradicate sparrows so they were no longer an issue. citizens were encouraged to chase the sparrows until they simply dropped to the ground out of exhaustion. sparrow nests were destroyed, eggs broken, and chicks and adults killed. citizens would follow sparrows, banging pots and pans and creating other disturbances, so sparrows would not have a chance to rest on tree branches. contests were held among enterprises, government agencies, and schools in “cleanliness”. rewards were given to those who handed in the largest amount of dead sparrows (or other pests).
while sparrow numbers dropped to near extinction in china, grain production did not rise. in fact, the resulting impact on crops was tragically one of the causes of the great famine. eurasian tree sparrows, the native species of china, are a natural predator of locusts and other crop-destroying bugs. locusts thrived and decimated rice paddies and other crops, and food production plummeted. an ornithologist named tso-hsin cheng pointed out that while sparrows consumed grain, they also consumed large amounts of insects. his influence caused chinese leaders to change their opinion. mao ended the campaign against sparrows, switching the focus to bed bugs. unfortunately, it was too little too late. the sparrow populations were already too low to control the locust, and food resources were low for years as a result.
thank you sparrows, for inadvertently helping us by cleaning up the real pests for us. please smile at your local sparrows and consider giving them a treat.
sources: (x) (x) (x)
today's bird 