Chinese leader Mao Zedong initiated the Four Pests campaign after reaching the conclusion that several blights needed to be exterminated — namely mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. The Extermination. This led to the Great Famine which lasted from 1958-1962, with a death toll of upwards of 30 million people. The Great Sparrow Campaign was the start of the greatest mass starvation in history In 1958, Mao Zedong ordered all sparrows to be killed. Mao ordered the end of the campaign against sparrows, replacing them with bed bugs in the ongoing campaign against the Four Pests. In 1958 the campaigns focused on the "the four pests": rats, sparrows, flies and mosquitoes. The aim of the campaign was to increase agricultural output, but during the Great Leap Forward, rice yields substantially decreased. Maybe Mao Zedong wanted to … Snails were particularly targeted for eradication because they carried the debilitating disease of schistosomiasis. Later sparrows were removed from the list, and fleas and lice added. As a direct result, millions of people starved to death. However, it might not have been so bad had not the Great Pests campaign been implemented. Unwilling to throw in the towel on their quest for a better China, the PRC continued the Four Pests Campaign, albeit substituting bed bugs for sparrows in 1960. My uncle ate raw cottonseed, he died a terrible death.” Other Pest Campaigns.