Australia is chock full of stuff that wants you dead, from snakes to crocodiles to terrifying wild koalas. However, what you don't expect is some oversized emus to warrant an all out assault by the Australian army!
The Great Emu War (yes, it's real) showed the Royal Australian Artillery some serious action.
In November of 1932, there was public outcry over the alarming amount of emus running amok in Western Australia. Soldiers armed with machine guns were deployed to "control" the population. Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Seventh Heavy Battery was put in charge of the operation. Their mission was to collect 100 emu skins for the feathers to make hats for light horsemen.
Though they did bag some of the birds over the course of two different attempts a month apart, the operation was largely a failure. A report in December claimed they had 986 confirmed kills with 9,860 rounds of ammunition, a rate of 10 rounds per kill. Though the population of emus was diminished for some time, they continued to bother the farmers and military assistance was requested again in 1934, 1943, and 1948. They were turned down each time.
