Hilarious moment quick-thinking emu dodges police officers after bringing traffic to a standstill on busy highway
An emu and two police officers have become involved in a hilarious game of cat and mouse after the runaway bird brought traffic on a major highway to standstill.
Drivers on the Princes Freeway near the Avalon Airport, 50km southwest of Melbourne, were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic from about 3pm on Monday.
The long queue of cars stretched for kilometres in the outbound lanes.
And the cause of all the traffic chaos – a runaway emu.
In footage captured by drivers on the other side of the freeway, the emu was seen taking a leisurely stroll across the lanes, oblivious to the pile-up it had caused.
Police were called to help clear the traffic jam and move the native bird to safety.
However, the emu had other plans and easily dodged the officers as they advanced towards the bird with outstretched arms.
One of the officers was forced to break into a run as the cheeky bird was finally guided to safety on a grassy field on the side of the highway.
A hilarious stand off between an emu and two police officers ensued after the native bird brought traffic to a standstill on the Princes Freeway near Avalon Airport in Melbourne
Aussies were quick to share their thoughts on the hilarious pursuit.
‘I drove past this and couldn’t stop laughing. It was hilarious,’ one person wrote.
‘The way the cops were chasing it, looked like the Benny Hill show lol. Just needed the music.’
‘An emu and two turkeys on the road,’ a second person joked.
‘Imagine telling your boss why your late for work lol… emu on the road stopping traffic mate,’ a third person chimed.
A fourth added: ‘It’s bad enough there are way too many drivers disobeying road rules in Wyndam. Now the native fauna are doing it!’
Others referenced the 1932 Great Emu War, a failed military attempt to cull emus in Western Australia, where the birds were jokingly hailed the victors.
‘That’s not a war I think they’ll win if we review the history books,’ one said.
Social media users joked that the officers should have learnt from history as even the Australian army lost a war against the flightless birds in 1932
‘You would think Australians would have learnt their lesson when it comes to messing with emus,’ a second person wrote.
A third joked: ‘That’s another war lost’.
The Emu War – or Great Emu War – was a military operation to manage nuisance wildlife undertaken in late 1932 to curb the emu population.
It came after public concern that the birds were destroying the crops of farmers in the Campion district in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt.
The operation employed Royal Australian Artillery soldiers armed with machine guns.
But the emus were often positioned too far away for the machine guns to reach, and when soldiers attempted to move closer the speedy emus ran away.
An army official noted that the emus even changed their tactics in response to the gunfire. Public pressure eventually forced the army to retreat.
Emus are native to Australia and are found in most areas of the mainland, with the exception of Tasmania
Only 1,000 of the birds were killed, one death for every 10 bullets used, with the war ultimately deemed a failure.
A bounty system and emu-resistant fences proved to be more effective at limiting the population.
Emus are native to Australia and are the country’s largest native bird – the world’s second-largest bird – and are found in most areas of the mainland, with the exception of Tasmania where they have been extinct since the mid-1800s.
They are an important cultural icon and appear on the Coat of Arms and various coinage alongside the Kangaroo.
The animals are cited as a symbol of Australia as a nation always moving forward as both the emu and kangaroo cannot move backwards.
