South American bird rhea found in front garden in Hampshire

Police, fire crews and a specialist animal management team rescue the bird but are clueless as to how it ended up in North Boarhunt

Press Association

Friday 2 October 2015 17.28 BSTLast modified on Friday 2 October 201517.51 BST

A rhea has been rescued by police, fire crews and a specialist animal management team after a householder in Hampshire found the large bird in his garden.

Police were called at 12.30pm on Thursday when the man found the rhea in the front garden of his home in North Boarhunt.

It is not known how the bird, nicknamed Snowflake, came to be in the garden, and it has not yet been claimed.

The rhea is a large bird, native to South America, which is a smaller cousin of the ostrich. It is believed that the white female found in the garden might have escaped from a private collection.

Hampshire police and firefighters were helped by the animal management team from Sparsholt college in capturing the bird.

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