Should Your Emus Play on the Highway?

[Supreme Emu]

My emus sometimes mosey along when I walk to the highway, which is about a hundred yards beyond the front fence. (It's a very quiet road, but it is a highway.) So far, they've shown surprisingly little interest in crossing the highway, which is the only barrier between my place and an enormous national park; but yesterday Greedy walked back and forth on my side of it, then gently 'beaked' the asphalt (not Yummy for Emus), then ventured out to sniff the white line, then just . . . stood there, looking with interest at the bush on the far side.

I sat and watched in trepidation, considering the equation of Emu Access The World Emu Get Squashed by Truck, then started moving back toward the house, talking to them, enticing them with the thought of Extra Yummies if they . . . get off the highway and come home.

Supreme Emu

 

[EggAuct]

Sounds dangerous and risky.

 

[frankenchick]

Do you have armadillos, or an equivalent? Maybe an Object Lesson is in order before they get any bolder.

You: "See that? He didn't start out as a pancake with a tail, let me tell you . . . "

 

[Supreme Emu]

Ya, Frankenchick, our equivalent would be the dead roos lying at regular intervals along said highway. Oddly though, for all the talk about how dumb emus are, they rarely get hit by vehicles.

Supreme Emu

 

[cloudswinger]

Why did the emu cross the road?

He didn't!


Perhaps emus don't get hit as much because most people wouldn't want the damage to their cars from the bigger animals. Or that there's not as many emus on the sides of roads as there are chickens.

 

[Supreme Emu]

Hi, Cloudswinger! I'd best write seriously for a second:

a full-grown emu will do plenty of damage to a car, but a full-grown kangaroo will do a lot more. So, choosing whether or not to hit them doesn't enter into it. It is accepted practice out here to NOT evade animals crossing the road. It's too dangerous. Although hitting a full-grown roo will total a car, hitting it is less dangerous than losing control while trying to avoid it, and slamming into a massive gum tree, which is what sometimes happens to city drivers and tourists.


Supreme Emu