The emu that did a runner at 30mph: Bird spotted make dramatic bid for freedom through the Suffolk countryside

A road-running emu was snared after making a dramatic bid for freedom

Giant bird was spotted sprinting along road by police officer in Whepstead

Police received a flurry of calls from concerned members of the public 

It startled numerous motorists as it ran 20 miles around the countryside

By JOSH WHITE FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 23:37, 3 August 2016 | UPDATED: 04:17, 4 August 2016

A road-running emu travelling at nearly 30mph through the Suffolk countryside was snared yesterday after staging a dramatic bid for freedom.

The giant bird - which is can serious injuries with its talons and is inferior in size only to the ostrich - had been spotted sprinting along a road by a police officer in Whepstead at around 7.15am.

Police subsequently received a flurry of calls from members of the public describing the omnivorous creature variously as an ostrich, a rhea and an emu.

The giant bird had been spotted sprinting along a road by a police officer in Whepstead at around 7.15am. Pictured, the emu after it was caught in a yard in Glemsfrod, Suffolk

The flightless bird, which is around 5ft 11ins tall, went on the run after apparently being spooked by a fox and jumping over its 4ft high paddock fence.

But the 15-month-old male bird startled numerous motorists as it ran for about 20 miles around country lanes and fields before being finally captured.

The emu, which is one of six owned by retired farmer Bernard King, disappeared on Tuesday night from his land near Bury St Edmunds.

Read more: 

Rogue emu netted after two months on the run

No one has claimed the emu and it's unknown where the bird came from before it was on the lam

By Arman Aghbali, CBC News Posted: Nov 13, 2015 5:22 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 13, 2015 7:57 PM ET

After scaring a nearby school and being shot at by a stranger, a fugitive emu has finally been caught by police and animal control in Delaware after at least 66 days on the run.

On Thursday afternoon animal control officers and Delaware State Police surrounded the 1.8-metre-tall bird, known to locals only as Eddie, near a housing development in Stonefield. 

"The emu is very happy. It's very content," Dan Stonebraker told CBC News. Stonebraker owns the 3 Palms Zoo & Education Centre in Clayton and often assists in capturing loose animals.

It took three tries to capture the bird, and on the second escape, Eddie jumped into a man's backyard. Once they had the bird cornered along the backyard fence, co-owner of the 3 Palms Zoo, Matt Shaffner, threw a net over the animal. 

"I've seen on the news that there was an emu on the loose, but I didn't suspect it was around here,"  Tom Curley told CBS Philadelphia, after they caught the bird in the woods behind his house. 

Stonebraker helped move Eddie into the trailer and has transferred the bird to a secure facility. He described that once the bird was surrounded by four walls and a blanket, it immediately calmed down.

Read more …

Father, son use net to capture exotic bird in New Hampshire

By The Associated Press

Posted Sep. 21, 2015 at 5:11 PM 

BOW — An emu that had been loose and wandering around New Hampshire for more than a week has been caught.

Maria Colby, a bird specialist who operates Wings of the Dawn Wildlife Sanctuary in Henniker,  says a father and son captured the large, flightless bird in Bow Sunday afternoon.

The Concord Monitor reports Colby searched for the bird throughout the week with police and neighbors.

The father and son used Colby's handheld net to capture the bird. Several people helped pick it up and carry it to Colby's car.

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Iwade woman dodges territorial bird Jimmy

09 September 2015

by Rachel O’Donoghue

A jogger has become the latest victim of a territorial pet emu, which stalks the fields surrounding a quiet country village.

Debbie Chapman, of Mallard Crescent, Iwade, encountered the bird - thought be called Jimmy and the resident of a nearby farm - when she was out on her morning run yesterday.

As the 37-year-old crossed a patch of land that acts as a shortcut to her home, she suddenly found herself face to face with the six-foot emu.

The 37-year-old said: “I was going through a field that has about a dozen horses in it, but they weren’t taking any notice of me.

“Then all of a sudden, they all started cantering and I looked up and thought, what the hell is that? It was this really big bird.

“It came up to me and I was backing away really slowly - not knowing if it was going to pounce on me. I’m only 5’3” so it was scary.

“I didn’t know whether I should be calling the RSPCA or the police.

“I did manage to take a few photos of him though.”

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Emu jumps fence, escapes from farm when noise spooks bird

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — An emu jumped a fence and escaped from a farm in North Carolina when it was spooked by a loud piece of farm equipment.

Owner Melvin Smith tells WITN in Greenville that (http://bit.ly/1EO2ExG) the emu jumped a fence Tuesday.

Smith takes care of the bird for his mother, who is in a nursing home. His wife says the emu is 24 years old and is the only remaining emu from a massive farm Smith ran in the 1980s. At its height, there were 3,000 emus on the farm. After he got out of emu farming, Smith's mother kept one male, who has since died, and one female.

Emus are the world's second-largest bird behind the ostrich.

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Escaped emu turns motorists' heads running on Israel roadway

HERZLIYA, Israel (AP) — Israeli traffic this weekend was really for the birds.

In the central Israeli town of Herzliya near Tel Aviv, an escaped emu ran through traffic Sunday on a main road between cars in the rain. Local authorities say the bird escaped from a private farm.

Passer-by Iliya Zelser filmed the bird's run. He says the experience made him feel like he was in a cartoon.

Zelser says he expected to hear the "beep beep" of the cartoon Road Runner.

Read on and see video ....

Emu on the loose: Giant bird goes on the run during city rush hour

Oct 10, 2014 11:32

By Ian Hughes

The lost bird - nicknamed Eddie - was spotted by shocked residents in Beighton, Sheffield, as they were getting ready for work and school

Ross Parry / SWNS

An emu has gone on the loose in Sheffield, with shocked commuters spotting the giant bird as they made their way to work.

The lost bird - nicknamed Eddie - was seen wandering in and out of residents' driveways in Beighton, Sheffield, around 8.30am yesterday morning.

Police called to the scene rang local farms and animal attractions in a bid to trace the owner - and took to Twitter to ask for help.

Mum-of-four Tilly Newton, 44, told the Sheffield Star: “I looked outside this morning and saw the emu in my neighbour’s garden and him filming it.

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Emu escapes! Runaway bird Zig on the loose after disappearing from home

Jul 24, 2014 11:07

By Eryl Crump

Zig the emu went missing from his North Wales home while his owners were out

The search is on for an emu called Zig after it escaped from its home.

The bird is one of a pair hatched from eggs which made an unusual birthday present from Lindsey Wright to her husband Peter.

Both Zig and Zag disappeared from their remote Llangywer home in North Wales on Monday while the family was out.

Although Zag showed up at a neighbour's house on Tuesday her brother is still at large and his owners are hunting for him.

Mrs Wright thinks the emus had been missing for three hours when the family discovered they were gone at about 6.30pm on Monday.

They searched all evening without success, but had more luck the following morning.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/emu-escapes-runaway-bird-zig-3905467#ixzz38b1lwkZ9

Escaped emu loose in Cass County

May 13, 2014 7:35 pm • By NICHOLAS BERGIN / Lincoln Journal Star

A large, flightless bird is believed to be roaming eastern Cass County.

Authorities last saw Lucy the emu on Friday, running toward Schilling Wildlife Management Area.

On Tuesday, they said they think she was still at large somewhere south of the confluence of the Platte and Missouri rivers.

Lucy escaped from her owner’s farm near Louisville on April 27. The owner said he has had her and a male emu named Ricky as pets for the past eight or nine years.

Emus are native to Australia and can weigh 90 to 150 pounds and stand 6 feet tall as adults. They live between 10 and 20 years in the wild.

Continued

Kitchener couple devastated by death of pet emu

By Paige Desmond

KITCHENER — A stolen tool could be replaced or a broken window repaired, but the emu Monika Sztrama and Joel Vautour of Kitchener raised since it was 14 days old is irreplaceable.

The two were in disbelief Monday after one of two cherished pet emus died amid the chaos caused after someone broke the lock off the birds' pen at the couple's urban farm on Bridge Street East.

The two-year-old emus made their way through the neighbourhood, with police in pursuit.

"You go home and you think, 'OK I tucked them in all good because they're locked up' and then you come back to this and that's the heartbreaking thing for us," Sztrama said.

No one is certain what caused the bird's death. Police said it collapsed in front of officers who were pursuing it.

The couple bought the property about three years ago and care for a number of animals including pigs, ducks, chickens, goats, sheep and a horse. It's zoned agricultural.

They long for a country home and view the approximately one-acre lot as a starter.

Continued

BIRD RESCUE: Game over: Lucy the fugitive emu captured in Nanaimo

CTV Vancouver 

Published Friday, March 21, 2014 6:42PM PDT 

Last Updated Friday, March 21, 2014 7:08PM PDT

Authorities have finally apprehended the 150-pound emu who’s been running wild in Nanaimo, B.C. since last weekend.

Animal control officers cooked Lucy the emu’s goose Friday evening after he was spotted in a thicket behind Vancouver Island University.

CTV’s Chopper 9 got a bird’s-eye view as the 15-year-old animal was loaded into a truck to be returned to his relieved owner.

Animal control officers load Lucy the emu into a truck behind Vancouver Island University. March 21, 2014. (CTV/Chopper 9)

A photo of Lucy, a 150-pound emu, who recently went missing after escaping his enclosure at a Nanaimo farm. March 19, 2014. (Courtesy Tim Genner)

Lucy flew the coop on Sunday and has been spotted numerous times since, most memorably when it was filmed chasing a dog across a Nanaimo lawn.

The length of the capture is no surprise given that emus can zip around at about 70 kilometres per hour.

Lucy’s story became a social media sensation, inspiring hundreds of tweets and even a map tracking every sighting of the flightless bird.

Continued

BIRD RESCUE: Fugitive flightless emu spends another night of freedom in Nanaimo, B.C.

The Canadian Press

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 09:01:00 CST

NANAIMO, B.C. - Emus are flightless, but that hasn't stopped one from flying the coop near Nanaimo, B.C.

Lucy the emu launched its big adventure more than 48 hours ago and, since then, the nearly two-metre tall, 70 kilogram bird has been cagey, rather than be caged.

Owner Tim Genner says Lucy, who has been raised by humans, and was discovered to be male long after being named, has been spotted more than 20 kilometres north of the family's Cassidy farm.

The bird was sighted Tuesday in downtown Nanaimo where Genner says Lucy is likely to seek human company, but he also worries the pet could be hit by a passing vehicle.

He expects Lucy spent Tuesday night in a park, but the bird is strong and fast, so Genner says catching it will be like herding a 150 pound cat.

Anyone with a pocket full of grapes could become Lucy's best friend but Genner and Nanaimo RCMP agree an expert will be needed to ensnare the evasive emu. (CKAY, Times Colonist)

Source

BIRD RESCUE: Police in bird ID shocker

Last updated Wed 19 Mar 2014

Lincolnshire Police have revealed that the ostrich caught earlier today on a roundabout in Coningsby is in fact an emu.

Police were called to reports that an ostrich was loose on a roundabout in the town causing travel chaos.

Officers took the bird to a nearby farm where it was positively identified as an emu.

Click here to read more about the emu that wasn't an ostrich

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2014-03-19/police-in-bird-id-shocker/

Someone Shot Mary The Emu, And This Animal Rescue Wants Justice

Mary the emu did not like hanging out with the other emus at Rikki's Refuge, a Virginia animal sanctuary about 90 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

The giant bird -- who was, in fact, male, but named after a refuge volunteer -- came to Rikki's in 2006 after evading capture by animal control in nearby Spotsylvania County.

The 367 private acres at Rickki's are home to more than 1,000 animals, including emus, pigs, horses, sheep, rabbits, cows, cats, dogs and peacocks and at least one very patient goat:

Continued

Lost Your Emu? Sarasota Animal Services May Have It

Are you missing your pet emu?

One of the large, flightless birds - it's the national bird in its native Australia - was found wandering in Deer Hollow in Sarasota, near the northwest corner of Fruitville Road and Interstate 75.

Sarasota County Animal Services officers were called to the neighborhood today and brought the emu to the animal shelter.

Anyone who may have lost an emu in Sarasota County can contact Animal Services at (941) 861-9501.

First, you have to prove you own the emu.

http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/lost-your-emu-sarasota-animal-services-may-have-it

Big bird rescued from NY canal

NEW YORK — Police say a big bird — possibly an emu — has been rescued from a Long Island canal.

Suffolk County police used ropes Monday to pull the bird out of the water in Copiague (KOH'-payg).

According to Newsday (http://bit.ly/10YaXPG ), initial police reports said a 200-pound ostrich was running "northbound on East Riviera." Then the bird went into the drink.

The soggy creature was eventually returned to its owner in Lindenhurst.

Chief Roy Gross of the Suffolk County SPCA says it is legal to own an emu — though town regulations might vary.

Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/APfec2de5442014dd1a9650a3045c89722.html

UPDATE:  The emu has since died. 

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/cops-emu-dies-after-rescue-from-water-off-copiague-1.5347557

Ranchers Find Hope in Flightless Bird’s Fat

HAMILTON, Mont. — The Wild Rose Emu Ranch is a survivor in an unusual business.

In 1998, there were some 5,500 farms and ranches across the country raising emus, the gawky, five- to six-foot-tall flightless birds; now, the best guess is that there are 1,000 to 2,000. Once, emus were viewed as a potential growth industry, a godsend to struggling farmers.

But the industry’s downward trajectory may have been stayed.

It is not because the bird’s meat, which is very lean, is becoming more popular, although it is. Instead, it is in the large block of fat that covers most of the emu’s body, between the hide and the flesh, that ranchers are finding a glimmer of hope.

“The oil is beneficial for almost any kind of skin condition,” said Clover Quinn, the owner of the Wild Rose, as she rubbed some of the oil on her hands. While there are a few studies that demonstrate the oil’s effectiveness for some things, proponents say it has a wide range of uses.

Continued:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/us/emu-oil-aids-the-survival-of-an-unusual-industry.html?_r=0

Doing bird! Escaped emu is bundled into police car after causing chaos during rush-hour

A four-foot emu was caught running through a town and trying to get into people's homes during rush-hour today.

Devon and Cornwall Police were called to Barnstaple in north Devon after the flightless bird, Betty, was spotted roaming the streets near Pilton Park.

Acting Sergeant Zoe Parnell and PCSO Stephen Huxtable stopped the 'panicked' emu at around 8am and managed to get it into a police car with only a few ruffled feathers.

A police spokesman said: 'Although the bird was in a state of panic they managed to coax it into the rear of the police car and call the owner.'

PC Parnell said she had had 'the most surreal day ever' and had 'thought it was a bit of a wind-up' when she got the call.

She said: 'I received call saying a 4ft ostrich was on the loose. But when I arrived at the scene to check it out, I could see this bird running up and down the street. It was trying to get into people’s houses.

'Obviously it was finding that difficult, and would try the next one.

'All the residents were trying take pictures, he seemed quite happy.

'I must admit that while I’m not normally scared of birds, I was a bit nervous with this one.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239712/Escaped-emu-goes-run-Devon-tries-break-houses-stopped-police.html#ixzz2DcrnmPhk

Bird Prank Bags Criminal Charges

Three high school students face trespassing and animal cruelty charges after bringing a 6-foot emu from Iowa and locking it in Gretna High School.

A janitor reportedly found the emu when he entered the school's commons area earlier this month. Sarpy County Sheriff's Department deputies rounded up the bird and took it to a veterinarian to have a cut on its neck stitched. The emu now belongs to a Gretna company that puts on wildlife shows for parties and schools.

Lt. Mark Trapp says one of the students went to Iowa to buy the bird for $30. The three students originally planned to release it onto the school's football field on September 19th. They instead put the bird in the school when they found it unlocked.

http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/Bird-Prank-Bags-Criminal-Charges-171989431.html