Emu War

The Emu War (or Great Emu War) was a nuisance wildlife management operation undertaken by the Australian Army in late 1932. The so-called 'war' was started in an attempt to cull emus damaging farmland in the Campion district within the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. A deputation of ex-soldiers requested the deployment of machine-guns to cull the emus, leading to Royal Australian Artillery soldiers armed with Lewis guns attempting to reduce emu numbers. The deployment of soldiers using machine-guns led the media to adopt the name "Emu War" when referring to the action. The Australian military made two attempts to cull the emus, but both were largely ineffective, as the emus split into small, alert and highly mobile groups making the operation uneconomic. Individual emus proved surprisingly hard to kill, being compared to "tanks" by the Australian commander. The attacks aroused both ridicule of the military and sympathy for the emus, and eventually the attempted cull was abandoned. Further requests for military assistance were rejected by the government, and alternative solutions, such as pest-exclusion fences, were utilised.