Rodent reprobates
In 1510, rats who destroyed a field of barley were summoned to face trial. Their defence lawyer, argued that attending court would put his clients at risk from local cats and dogs. A reasonable fear of death was sufficient reason to excuse a human from court. If rats were to be subjected to the same laws, surely the same mitigation had to apply. The judge postponed the trial indefinitely.
Emu war
In 1932 the government of western Australia declared war on emus, a native bird species that was damaging crops in the region. The government sent soldiers armed with machine guns to hunt the emus, who proved elusive.
Despite firing thousands of rounds of ammunition the soldiers were able to kill only a few emus before the government declared peace after less than a week.