The Mighty Emu
Yes, emus are just birds, surely, they just needed to be treated like any other pest, right? Well, not when there were 20,000 of them descending on Australian farmland. An emu weighs around the same as an adult human, and they have deceptively powerful legs with large, sharp claws. In short, emus could and occasionally did attack and seriously wound or humans. Their powerful legs also easily tore gaping holes in the rabbit fences, reintroducing hordes of rabbits.
Finally having enough, the farmers petitioned the Western Australian government to do something. Their response was so bizarre that the contemporary media couldn’t get enough of it. A small group of soldiers was sent in with machine guns with the purpose of stalking up to emu flocks at watering holes and gunning them down.
The machine gun, a Lewis Gun, was still a new and impressive weapon of war, and the thought was that huge swaths of birds would be taken out at a time, both culling the numbers and giving farmers a substantial demonstration that their government was doing something to help them.
The first wave of a handful of troops was unsuccessful, but farmers wanted something to continue, so reports of hundreds of dead emus began circulating, prompting a second wave to be sent in. the army reportedly argued that the “war” would be good target practice for troops in a period of relative peace, running targets and practical experience with machine guns.
The argument that it was a propaganda move to appease the farmers holds more weight as a cinematographer was hired and films were made glorifying the “war” and exaggerating its success. A last excuse to go forward was for the army to collect emu skins and feathers to use for the uniforms of British cavalry.
As it turns out, this comical plan was a great case of “easier said than done” Emus are used to being prey, and so default to running and scattering in the face of danger, and a firing machine gun sounds dangerous enough. Emus also have one of the worst body types for shooting.
A round body is the only viable target, too high or low and the slender neck and legs are very unlikely to be hit. At 150 pounds with dense feathers, some emus could even survive a shot or two in the right circumstances.