Why did so many people and animals die during the dust bowl?

These animals ate any crop or plant that was left.

Explanation:

For over ten years, severe drought and severs wind erosion haunted the Great Plains, creating horrible dust storms that killed people, animals and plants, while destroying the air quality of the nation. Along with the dust storms cam swarms of grasshoppers and jackrabbits, these animals ate any crop or plant that was left. Towns hosted rabbit drives where rabbits would be capture in pens and killed to prevent them from eating any of the crops that could be grown.