The Unbelievable Great Emu War

Hi friends! Welcome to *It Really Happened*! I’m your host, Bill Whitaker, and today’s true adventure is… *The Great Emu War*! Get ready—this one’s about a battle so strange, you’ll never believe who won!

Okay, picture this: It’s 1932, and we’re in Australia. The sun is blazing, the land is super dry, and the farmers are out in their fields. They’re trying to grow crops to feed their families, but guess what? There’s a problem. A BIG problem. It starts with a thundering sound in the distance. At first, the farmers aren’t sure what’s going on. Is it a storm? An earthquake? But then… they see them.

Thousands of tall, gray, feathery *birds* racing across the fields. These aren’t regular birds. Oh no. These are *emus*! Giant birds that can grow taller than a basketball player. They can’t fly, but they can run SUPER fast—like 30 miles an hour—and they’re STRONG. Their long necks and legs make them look like something out of the dinosaur age. And there are *thousands* of them.

The emus are gobbling up everything in sight. The farmers’ crops? Gone. Their fences? Trampled. And no matter what the farmers do to chase them off, the emus just keep coming back. It’s like they’re saying, “This is OUR land now!”

Now here’s the thing: Australia had been dealing with emus for years. But in 1932, it was worse than ever. See, the farmers were already struggling because it hadn’t rained much, and their crops weren’t growing well. Plus, it was the Great Depression, so money was tight. Losing their food to an army of hungry emus? That was the last straw.

So the farmers turned to the government for help. “Send in the army!” they said. And guess what? The government *did*! They sent three soldiers with machine guns and thousands of bullets to help fight off the birds. Yep, this was a real war: humans versus emus.

At first, the soldiers thought it would be easy. “What can a bunch of birds do against us?” they said. So they set up their guns, waited for a group of emus to get close, and then… BAM! They started shooting. But the emus weren’t going down without a fight. The birds scattered in every direction, running so fast the soldiers couldn’t keep up. Some of them even dodged the bullets like action-movie stars!

A few days later, the soldiers tried again. This time, they found a huge group of emus—over a thousand of them—gathered near a dam. “Aha!” the soldiers said. “They can't escape this time.” They started firing, but guess what? The same thing happened. The emus split up into smaller groups and ran faster than the soldiers’ guns could aim. And here’s the funniest part: one of the emus actually broke the soldiers' truck by getting tangled in the steering wheel! The emus were smarter than anyone had imagined.

Day after day, the soldiers tried to win. They chased the emus with trucks. They set up ambushes. But no matter what they did, the emus were just TOO fast, TOO smart, and TOO tough. Some emus seemed almost invincible—they’d get hit by bullets and just keep running like nothing happened. Even the army admitted it: “These birds are like tanks.”

Here’s a funny “Did you know?” for you: Emus can run so fast because they have super strong legs, and they use their wings like little airplane stabilizers to help them stay balanced. How cool is that?

After about a month of fighting, the soldiers finally gave up. They had used thousands of bullets but only managed to get a small number of emus. Meanwhile, the emus were still out there, still eating crops, still ruling the fields. The army had LOST. That’s right: the emus won the Great Emu War!

So what happened next? Well, the farmers had to come up with other ways to protect their crops. They built stronger fences and asked for help from hunters instead of soldiers. And over time, things got better. But the Great Emu War became a legend—a reminder that sometimes, nature is stronger than we expect.

And that… really happened! The Australian government actually sent soldiers to fight giant birds, and the birds outsmarted them! Thanks for listening! Tell a friend something surprising that happened to you or something wild you’ve learned. See you next time on *It Really Happened*!