Yes, you read that right. In 1932, Australia started a war on emus. At the time, emus were considered a major nuisance that were apparently hugely overpopulated. It is believed that as many 20,000 emus found that the farms in Campion made an excellent choice for both breeding and finding food.
To help take care of the issue, the Australian military sent Major G.P.W. Meredith, Sergeant S. McMurray and Gunner J. O’Halloran to the area to take care of the emu problem.
The war against the emus began on November 2, 1932. The first attack on the emus was only moderately successful. The birds were difficult to target due to their splitting into smaller groups and running. It is reported that the killed about a dozen of the birds total in this first attack.
The second major attack had its own issues. The men were about to kill twelve birds before the gun jammed. This was just the beginning of the issues the men had in killing the emus. No matter what strategy was used, the men just could not seem to gain an advantage against the emus.
The great war against the emus ended on December 10, 1932. The reports about the total number of emus killed varies from as little as 50 to as many as 1,000. As far as munitions go, the soldiers used approximately 10,000 rounds during this short war. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that in this war on emus, the emus definitely came out the winner.
