A Victorian man has been arrested after horrifying footage of emus deliberately being mown down went viral on social media earlier this week.

Ouyen police arrested a 20-year-old Cowangie man on Friday following the animal cruelty incident which occurred sometime during the past two weeks.

The man has been interviewed and is expected to be charged on summons with aggravated cruelty to an animal, cruelty to an animal, torment to an animal, destruction of protected wildlife and a number of traffic-related offences including using a mobile phone while driving and speeding.

During the incident, a number of emus were allegedly struck by a vehicle between September 1 and 20 on Pellaring Road, in the town of Cowangie, about 540 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.

The video appeared on social media on Wednesday evening and has since been widely shared by horrified members of the public.