Mass of bird killing?

Question

My father told me he read a story (true) about in the 1930-1960's that in China or Japan many people killed off birds because they were eating their crops. They killed them with noise and thousands died. After that they regretted it because a catapillar invasion came and atye the crops...

Can anyone fill me on information or give me a web link?

Thanks...!

Answer 1

Well, in the late 1800s, Japanese entrepreneurs created a new industry on Torishima: commercial albatross slaughtering for oil and feathers. It was neither a hunt nor a harvest; it was a massacre. Like most seabirds, albatross have no concept of land predators. They didn’t know to flee for their lives. Instead they sat patiently on their nests as club-wielding men strolled to within swinging distance. Over the course of a few decades the men killed nearly all of the albatross, stuffed their feathers into schooners, cooked their carcasses to render fat, and left their bones to bleach in the sun. Records from this slaughter lead us to believe that up to five million birds were killed. About the time of World War II, short-tailed albatross were presumed extinct—a species lost for the sake of a few hundred thousand feather beds and pillows and some low-grade fatty fuel. Still, a couple of dozen immature birds remained at sea, unnoticed, avoiding the final slaughter. From this handful, rediscovered in 1950, the species crept back.  Is this possibly what he was referring to?

Answer 2

timelines.ws/countries/CHINA_1925_1994.H...

www.lhup.edu/smarvel/seminar/Fall_2003...

2nd one looks best