The Emu War

A typical war involves two or more parties arguing over land, religion, trade, or a variety of other issues. However, the participants are almost always human. Not so in The Emu War, which had no poetic or metaphorical name. It was an emu war.

Following World War I, the Australian government began granting veterans land plots. Thousands of acres of farmland were made available because Australia has plenty of space. However, it was not technically uninhabited. The emus were present. And they were making a commotion. They destroyed crops and were large enough to literally knock over fences by running at them.

By 1932, the birds had a bounty placed on them. The farmers were unable to handle all of them, so the military was called in. They cornered 1000 of them, but the gun they planned to use to kill them jammed. They took out about 10. They'd killed 200 people after several days of trying and 2500 rounds of ammo. The total number of bullets wasted per emu shot was around ten.

By 1934, the government had provided farmers with ammunition, and the emus did not fare well. Despite nearly 60,000 deaths, the species survived and is now protected.

• Date: 2 November - 10 December 1932
• Location: Campion district, Western Australia