Lost war: how the Australian army fought ostriches

This is perhaps the only case in history when parts of the regular army of a state fought against animals. Battles were fought according to all the rules of war, using intelligence and heavy weapons. It was the Australian army, and emu ostriches were the enemy.

When the settlers actively explored the vast expanses of Australia, they could not even imagine that birds could hinder their plans for the development of agriculture. The rapid development of agriculture took place at the beginning of the 20th century, after the end of the First World War. At that time, a large number of retired soldiers from Great Britain moved to Australia, who, together with local farmers, began to actively open up suitable for growing grain land in western Australia. The main crop in the area was wheat.

Troubles overtook farmers in the early 30s, during the Great Depression - the economic crisis that affected Australia. The government promised subsidies to farmers, as well as to buy wheat at a good price. Hoping for this, the farmers increased the area under crops and expected to get a good harvest. But emu ostriches intervened.

These large flightless birds, living in abundance on the continent, annually migrated from the interior of the continent to the coasts. On their way, they met numerous fields of ripening wheat. There was no limit to the joy of ostriches: the abundance of feed and the availability of water resources turned farm fields into a paradise for living.

According to experts, about 20,000 emu ostriches migrated to the region. Farmers were desperate when traditional measures to scare away birds did not produce the desired effect. Ostriches did not leave for long, but then returned again. In the current disastrous situation in 1932, farmers turned to the Australian army for help.

In the operation to rescue farmers from voracious birds, a detachment of soldiers armed with machine guns took part, under the command of Major Meredith. The press called this event "the war with emu," and the majestic commander of the operation entrenched a humorous post as "minister of defense against emu." Nevertheless, it was a real operation to destroy the enemies of farmers, although it did not have much success. The fact is that there were a lot of ostriches, and for their effective destruction much more resources were required. In addition, the birds quickly moved to other fields and the "army" simply did not have time for them. These battles, although they led to the death of several hundred birds, but in general showed the complete impotence of man.

In subsequent years, farmers repeatedly turned to the military for help, but were refused. Instead of help, they were offered to fight the annoying birds themselves, for which they were entitled to remuneration from the state treasury. These measures led to better results than the participation of a military detachment in the battle with emu.