87 years ago on this day, Australians were defeated in The Great Emu War

December 10 is an important day in the history of Australia because it marks 87 years of the defeat of Australian soldiers in 'The Great Emu War' of 1932. This battle was a wildlife management military operation in 1932 against the emus who were running amok in the Campion district of the country. Armed soldiers were employed to fight the large flightless bird. Even though a huge number of birds were killed, the emu population persisted and continued crop destruction. It is named 'war' because the soldiers were provided guns to kill the birds who were creating 'nuisance'. 

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The Emu War

Under the command of Major GPW Meredith of the Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery, the war began in October but reportedly it was delayed due to massive rainfall and caused the emus to scatter in the field. Initially, the military planned to take 10,000 rounds of ammunition at the flightless birds. However, the planned failed because the birds had deployed their own leader and started changing their tactics. It was later found out that only 50 emus were killed after the soldiers utilised nearly 2,500 bullets. The soldiers then accepted their defeat and retracted their troops on November 8.

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Soon after the retraction, farmers again complained about the birds destroying their crops. Therefore after nearly a month, the soldiers had killed around 100 emus per week and finally closed the operation after killing 1000 emus. Reportedly, additional 2,500 birds were killed after being injured by the gunfire. The mission was again aborted on December 10 after the military realised that it was 'impossible' to kill all the flightless birds. Therefore, the outcome of the war since 87 years has been a failure of soldiers trying to eradicate the 'amok-creating' birds. The entire episode of soldiers being deployed had sparked outrage among animal activists all around the world. The British authorities when learned about the 'war' in 1932, called it '"extermination of the rare emu'. 

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