If you want something light to read after what has seemed to be a more serious than usual news week, look no further than the East Bay Regional Park District’s Facebook page, where they tell the tale of nabbing a fugitive emu at Wildcat Canyon Regional Park on Saturday.
In case you’re not up on your ornithology, an emu is a large, flightless bird native to Australia. It’s the world’s second-tallest bird, after the ostrich, and is “known for its shaggy brown feathers, long legs, and powerful kicks.” They’re described as intelligent and fast-runners.
But this one wasn’t fast enough, apparently.
“This week at Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, EBRPD officers responded to a high-speed (okay, high-stride) pursuit involving a loose emu,” the park district reported on Saturday, crediting three officers with successfully locating, corralling and safely transporting the bird to the custody of Contra Costa County Animal Services.
We can’t decide what’s more emu-sing: The strong use of emojis in the post or the bad puns among the more than 120 comments (one of which we just shamelessly stole).
“Bad bird bad bird … whatcha gonna do when they wrangle you,” said one poster, riffing off the old “Cops” reality TV show.
“Emu-tional rescue,” said another.
The park district summed up the case succinctly: “No officers were harmed. No emus were harmed. Pride? Slightly ruffled. Case status: Emu = safe. Park = secure.”
EBRPD police Lt. Justin Rice told Richmondside Monday that they think the bird might have escaped from a nearby resident who was known to keep exotic animals — including a zebra. That person has moved, he said, so perhaps the emu escaped during that process.
He said the fact that officers were able to even find one bird in the 2,789-acre park was impressive.
“It’s a big park, so it’s kind of a needle-in-a-haystack kind of thing. They just came up to the (San Pablo) ridge and saw it,” Rice said. “It’s not something we see everyday.”
An officer threw a jacket over the bird so it couldn’t see a way to escape and snagged it with a long pole.
Rice said even if animal control officials can’t find the owner, he is confident they’ll be able to place it in a local sanctuary or other suitable location.
Love this story. A little lighthearted news is welcome!