AHC: Have Australia win the Great Emu War

Kind of like Snakehead fishing here in Maryland. We can't eradicate the things because they breed five times a year and they lay a ton of eggs. It is against the law to catch and release them. You catch one, you kill it (they are good to eat).

Logic says that the larger an animal is, the easier it should be to eradicate. Fish are one thing, but emus, well, I'm guessing that if the Australian government decided on revanchism today, they'd be a lot more successful.
 

Wallet

Banned
Didn't they eventually kill most Emos though?

They could start poisoning the land and water. Screw long term population growth just kill those damn bird
 
Ask for help from their ANZAC brothers, New Zealand. We've made bigger birds than the Emu go extinct! ;)

Or maybe something like:
  • Offer a generous bounty per Emu shot (must provide, say, head or claw as evidence)
  • Advertise the bounty across Australia
  • Encourage the use of Emu meat and eggs as a food source.
I remember the French offered a bounty for rats in Hanoi due to a rat infestation problem. This gave back an overwhelming number of people returning rat tails. Eventually the French caught onto the fact that the Vinetnamese, a clever and ingenious people, were at first simply cutting off the tails to keep the population intact and were later actively breeding rats for the bounty. Archival research is somewhat difficult on it if I recall, as many of the papers have been rendered unusable... by a rat infestation at the archives.

It seems hardly unlikely that a similar situation could develop with an emu bounty.
 
It seems hardly unlikely that a similar situation could develop with an emu bounty.
I find it quite unlikely, actually, considering how much harder emus are to deal with than rats. They're much bigger (so require far more space and food), breed more slowly, and take longer to mature. If you pick a suitable body part (one which when removed leads to death), then it hardly seems like it would be remunerative to breed emus for the bounty.
 
I find it quite unlikely, actually, considering how much harder emus are to deal with than rats. They're much bigger (so require far more space and food), breed more slowly, and take longer to mature. If you pick a suitable body part (one which when removed leads to death), then it hardly seems like it would be remunerative to breed emus for the bounty.
However, emus actually are farmed, even in the present day, so they clearly have economic value in of themselves. Combine that with a bounty, and no, there would be breeders of the birds.
 
However, emus actually are farmed, even in the present day, so they clearly have economic value in of themselves. Combine that with a bounty, and no, there would be breeders of the birds.
Yes, there's a reason I said "for the bounty". These would be bred for other purposes, and the bounty would be an incidental bonus.
 

Deleted member 94680

Years later, the mighty Emu leader is interviewed on British television:


An unrestrained, bloodthirsty savage. His poor, captive, batman forced to look on as he savagely attacks the interviewer.

Horrifying!
 
Sign a peace treaty and incorporate the emus as an equal partner in the Commonwealth. It is the sole honourable way. ;)
Ah, the Māori solution.

I remember the French offered a bounty for rats in Hanoi due to a rat infestation problem. This gave back an overwhelming number of people returning rat tails. Eventually the French caught onto the fact that the Vinetnamese, a clever and ingenious people, were at first simply cutting off the tails to keep the population intact and were later actively breeding rats for the bounty. Archival research is somewhat difficult on it if I recall, as many of the papers have been rendered unusable... by a rat infestation at the archives.

It seems hardly unlikely that a similar situation could develop with an emu bounty.
Shortly before the Patrician came to power there was a terrible plague of rats. The city council countered it by offering twenty pence for every rat tail. This did, for a week or two, reduce the number of rats - and then people were suddenly queuing up with tails, the city treasury was being drained, and no one seemed to be doing much work. And there still seemed to be a lot of rats around. Lord Vetinari had listened carefully while the problem was explained, and had solved the thing with one memorable phrase which said a lot about him, about the folly of bounty offers, and about the natural instinct of Ankh-Morporkians in any situation involving money: "Tax the rat farms".
 
Years later, the mighty Emu leader is interviewed on British television:


The Emu King is not flattered by his depiction

Emu-War.jpg


"Tweet, tweet!"
-Emu King, in regards to his victory in 1932 Emu War.
^
What actually happened. I swear on me mum mate!
 
I remember the French offered a bounty for rats in Hanoi due to a rat infestation problem. This gave back an overwhelming number of people returning rat tails. Eventually the French caught onto the fact that the Vinetnamese, a clever and ingenious people, were at first simply cutting off the tails to keep the population intact and were later actively breeding rats for the bounty. Archival research is somewhat difficult on it if I recall, as many of the papers have been rendered unusable... by a rat infestation at the archives.

It seems hardly unlikely that a similar situation could develop with an emu bounty.

The French wanted the Vinetnamese to actually give a rat's ass? :)
 
However, emus actually are farmed, even in the present day, so they clearly have economic value in of themselves. Combine that with a bounty, and no, there would be breeders of the birds.

Emu meat is low fat, low cholesterol and very tasty. Emu eggs make a delicious, if somewhat overly large omelette. And their skin makes a fine leather. (I used to have a pair of emu leather shoes).

So yes, they're worth farming.

Meanwhile, back in the carnage ...
 
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