Sad News

[ES Emus]

Straight out of today's headlines. Anybody care to share their secrets for possibly catching a free-roaming emu?





Escaped emu shot dead in Georgia

Published February 07, 2013
Associated Press
ROME, Ga. – An emu's journey through a Rome neighborhood began with curious onlookers, as it strutted through fields and over streets after escaping from its owner.
But the animal's brief taste of freedom ended in death.
Floyd County police spokesman Jerome Poole said that after animal control officers failed to take down the emu with tranquilizer darts, it was shot and killed at the owner's request.
Poole tells the Rome News-Tribune (http://bit.ly/XSdZoA) that the emu was "thousands of addresses away" from its owner's property when animal control officers responded to the Kingswood Estates neighborhood on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how the emu escaped, or who owned the animal.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/07/escaped-emu-shot-dead-in-georgia/#ixzz2KFPVKvhF

 

[yinepu]

Mine always come when I call them when they are out in the pasture. Course they do know their food bucket and scoop which helps.. and a couple of them will follow me like a puppy. I did have to pick up Paco and carry him when he was attacked by the strays just to get him back to a secure pen so he could recover.

I have read where you can coax them with shiny things. Mine are so nosy that EVERYTHING gets their attention.

 

[yinepu]

Seems to me there was another one that escaped and was shot last year too.. wasn't it in Georgia as well?

 

[Calla]

Awww so sad.... we had a case in Devon UK recently too....but wasn't shot ...luckily...
MAIL ONLINE
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.'

Poor baby must have been scared.

 

[ES Emus]

When a (tame) pet bird gets out of its cage and is in the area, you can usually coax it or drive back into its pen without too much trouble as long as the bird does not get too spooked. But it is a whole different story when the bird gets gets spooked or it is a semi-wild bird that does not respond to coaxing and finds itself in a unfamiliar location. In theses cases, the bird will often panic and run and no matter how fast you are, you are not going to chase down a running emu! Escaped emus often make the local news and sometimes the national news, often with tragic consequences (to the bird). Outside of tranquillizer darts, does anybody have any suggestions for these type of situations...?

 

[Calla]

My cordless powerdrill is their favourite toy to get at lol next my gold rimmed glasses on or on top of head...but saying this, they run for my veggie bowl every lunchtime, that would probably be the best, if an escapee had veggies in their daily diet, that is.......better, taller fences is another solution. On occasions mine came out of their pad and were looking for me 50 yards away, I went in their pad and they followed me back in...they were lost ha ha
Calla

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Hey, E.S.,

This may not be exactly relevant, but it’s on the right track:

get everyone to shut up, and to be as still as possible. I have found that you can’t drive an emu, but you can lure it towards you/food.

If you can position yourself so there is a line of sight between you and the bird, and if the bird recognises that there is food involved, it should move towards you.

It’s long been my protocol to familiarise my birds to the sound of knuckles tapped on the bottom of a feed dish – “tap, tap, tap. ‘Come on, sweetie.’ Tap, tap, tap.”

Supreme Emu

 

[ES Emus]

Thanks Supreme!
What I was trying to get feedback on was a scenario where one is called out to assist in the capture of an escaped emu that is not one of your own (and does not know or recognize you), a bird that has become disoriented and has paniced and has basically reverted to being a wild bird. Typically, when a bird is in this state, it does not respond to stimuli but only wants to flee...

 

[yinepu]

Thanks Supreme! What I was trying to get feedback on was a scenario where one is called out to assist in the capture of an escaped emu that is not one of your own, a bird that has become disoriented and has paniced and has basically reverted to being a wild bird. Typically, when a bird is in this state, it does not respond to stimuli but only wants to flee...

I dunno.. I think it depends on the bird and the situation

When Paco was attacked by the stray dogs he wanted to get as close to me as possible.. even though one was still hanging onto his neck. He saw me and made a beeline for me.. once he got closer the dogs let go and turned tail.. Paco ran right up to me and collapsed. He didn't plow into me.. he saw me as something safe. He didn't struggle at all when I picked him up and carried him back to a safe pen. His heart was racing and he was breathing heavy. even though he was in panic state he recognized me as being someone safe he wanted to get to.

I'm sure his situation isn't typical... but it also says something about their state of mind and what they COULD be thinking and feeling when panicking