Birds versus machine guns: how Australia declared war on emus and shamefully capitulated (4 photos)

The only war against birds in history ended with the victory of the birds. We tell you how it happened, and it was extremely epic, with absurdity, truck chases and "invulnerable" emus.





In the early 1930s, thousands of soldiers returning from the First World War decided to seek a happy life in the quiet and peaceful Western Australia. They moved, received land from the government and began to build their paradise in the promised land. The plan was simple: rural revival, farming, harvests. But the government did not take one thing into account - birds. Huge, fast and very hungry. Thousands of emus, fleeing the drought, rushed into the fields of newly minted farmers, trampling crops and leaving behind an "ecological disaster zone".



More than 20 thousand long-legged pests quickly showed who was the boss in the fields. They despised people on principle, spat on scarecrows from the height of their considerable height. The government decided: "If diplomacy does not work, then there will be war."





In November 1932, Australia sent soldiers with Lewis machine guns (yes, the same ones used in the First World War!) against the birds. The plan was simple: surround the emus and shoot them. But the harsh reality messed up all the plans for the people. The birds ran in zigzags, did not huddle together, the machine guns jammed, the ammunition ran out, the trucks got stuck. One car even crashed while trying to catch up with a couple of dashing emus. And these overgrown chickens run at a speed of 55 km/h, mind you.



In 45 days, the soldiers managed to shoot about 2,500 birds (out of 20,000, this is really a drop in the bucket). The rest galloped off into the sunset as if nothing had happened. The farmers were left with trampled fields, and the army with a tarnished reputation. The operation was shut down.

And so Australia forever went down in history as a country that lost the war to the birds.