The War Australia Lost... to Emus

Full transcript

In 1932, Australia declared war… on emus. Yes, a real military campaign against a flock of birds. Farmers in Western Australia were desperate. Twenty thousand emus were destroying crops after the Great Depression hit hard. The government sent soldiers with machine guns, led by Major Meredith, to solve the emu problem quickly. But emus proved surprisingly fast, clever, and hard to hit, scattering in every direction whenever soldiers opened fire. After weeks of chasing, only a few dozen emus were killed, while thousands of bullets were wasted completely. Major Meredith admitted defeat, joking that emus could face machine-gun fire like seasoned troops under attack. So ended the bizarre 1932 military campaign that failed against a flock of birds — the war Australia lost to emus.