fact, it took, on average, more than 10 bullets for
each kill.
“If we had a military division with the bullet-
carrying capacity of these birds it would face
any army in the world... They can face machine
guns with the invulnerability of tanks. They are
like Zulus whom even dum-dum bullets could not
stop.” – Major Meredith, commander of the Royal
Australian Artillery, on the outstanding mobility
and sustainability of emus [2].
The day af ter, the group establ i shed an
ambush near a local dam, reported to be the
water source for over 1000 emus. With renewed
patience, the soldiers waited until the birds were in
point-blank range. At 100 yards, they fired at their
lumbering bodies – easy targets for soldiers, no? A
major victory was all but certain.
Except that the “major victory” was in the
emus’ favour.
Despite thousands of rounds fired, fewer than
a dozen emus were killed. Emus scattered as
quickly as the human forces began firing, out of
gunsight before anyone had a chance to reload.
Apparently, the herd had developed their own
understanding of military science, much to the
dismay of the army. For each mob of birds, there
was “always an enormous black-plumed bird…
who keeps watch while his mates carry out their
work of destruction”, as one of the army observers
bitterly recounted [3].
Realising the birds were smarter and quicker
than they had originally anticipated, Meredith
decided to mount a machine gun onto a truck,
in order to keep up with the fleeing emus. Yet,
not a single shot was fired, because the bumpy
count r ys ide made aimi ng impos s ibl e…and
because a bumbling emu got tangled in the
steering wheel.
As the negative press reached the parliament,
representatives rolled collective eyes and deemed
the “war” a lost cause. The Minister of Defence
withdrew the military personnel on Nov 8, putting
the Emu fiasco to an end. Such is the story of
Australia declaring and subsequently losing a
war against its wildlife. While one may find the
spectacular failure of the army somewhat comical,
one must give credit to the emus’ survivability.
After all, they are only as tough as their home –
the harsh plains of the Australian outback. It is
their survival instincts that won them the war, not
just their heavy treads or incredible mobility. As
a species native to Australia, the emu will remain
common throughout her countryside.
References
參考資料
[2] New Strategy in A War On the Emu. The Sunday Herald.
5 July 1953: 13.
[3] Elusive Emus. The Argus. 5 November 1932: 4
