Emu safely captured near Odessa

Delaware’s wayward emu was safely captured Thursday afternoon, said Dan Stonebraker, an owner of 3 Palms Petting Zoo in Clayton.

The 6-foot male bird, which weighs 90 to 95 pounds, was captured about 2:30 p.m. in a backyard at the Stonefield housing development near Odessa.

Stonebraker and his business partner Matt Shaffner worked with animal-control officials and Delaware State Police to corner and net the bird.

“We got it. Locked and loaded” in the trailer, Stonebraker said, shortly after the bird was captured and secured. “It’s safe. It’s happy. He’s real content.”

Stonebraker said Delaware State Police kept onlookers and the media away from the rural, farm and wood lands where the animal had been staying during its more than two months on the lam so the capture team could get the job done.

“We’re pleased that this was resolved,” said Dan Shortridge, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture.

It took three tries on Thursday to capture the bird and dozens more in the days leading up to the successful recovery. Stonebraker said he felt it was especially important to capture the bird Thursday because there were growing concerns about public safety. In addition, Friday marks the start of shotgun season for white-tail deer in Delaware – and the risk the bird might shot by accident.

Stonebraker said the team set up nets to corral the bird, but it twice escaped them.

“Third time’s a charm,” he said.

After the emu’s second escape, it ran into the woods and ended up in the backyard of a home in Stonefield. There, the team was able to guide it down a backyard fence line and corner it, and then Shaffner dropped a net over it. Once the bird was captured, they secured its legs and carried it to the trailer, Stonebraker said.

The next step, to move the bird to a safe and secure facility in Townsend, he said. There, it will receive veterinary care and be allowed to readjust to life in captivity.

In the meantime, Stonebraker will be looking for a new home for the bird because no one has claimed it.

“It’s a male. It’s very docile,” he said. “It was definitely a pet because it’s very comfortable around people.”

The future bird owners will go through careful screening.

“I’m not letting this bird go to just anyone,” he said. The reason: He said he doesn’t want to see it escape again.

Newark emu farmer Carolyn Palo, who besides running Pine Hill Farms, where she raises emus, is also president of the Maryland Emu Association, said that typically, 6-foot-high fencing is recommended because the big birds can easily climb lower ones.

Emu escapes do happen from time to time.

Matt Chapman of Oxford, Pennsylvania, has cared for nine rescued emus over the years. He’s now down to a flock of three, and when one of his escaped, he found the best solution was to dart it with a tranquilizer.

“It went right down,” he said.

Then, he was able to easily take it back home, he said. In that case, the emu was running around in Oxford, and police were planning to shoot it because of the threat to public safety, he said. It became such a celebrity, thanks to media exposure, that officials contacted a vet who helped calculate the tranquilizer dosage.

Chapman was the one who fired the dart gun that lead to the recovery of his bird.

And on an earlier occasion, he said, he used one of his three-wheeler vehicles, ran up alongside another wayward emu, jumped off and tackled it.

He doesn’t recommend that strategy. “That hurt a little bit,” he said.

Since Delaware’s emu has been on the run, Palo, the Delaware emu farmer, said she has received dozens of phone calls.

Mostly, people want to know if the emu belongs to her.

It doesn’t.

“Mine are all accounted for,” she said.

In fact, state agriculture officials, who oversee agricultural animals like emu in the state, have reached out to Delaware’s known emu farmers. No one reported a missing bird, and so far, the owner hasn’t come forward.

In 2007, the latest year data is available for Delaware, there were three emu farmers in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The birds, while a nonnative species, are not regulated as exotic animals. Instead, they are considered an agricultural animal.

Leading up to Thursday’s capture, the bird caused quite a stir in normally quiet Odessa. It prompted a “soft” lockdown at two area elementary schools Monday, and there were reports of it wandering into roadways.

“It’s a sight to behold,” Stonebraker said of the dark-feathered bird.

Reach Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.

EMU FACTS

Native range: Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines

Habitat: Grassy plains, open forests, scrub land

Fun facts: Emus are flightless, though they do have two, small wings on either side of their body. They are the second largest living bird. The ostrich is the largest. They are considered docile. Some owners describe the birds as friendly.

Lifespan: 10 to 20 years in the wild

Weight: 66 to 121 pounds

Height: 4.9 to 6.2 feet tall

Products produced from emu: Meat, feathers, fat and oil. The oil is used as an anti-inflammatory. 

Source: San Diego Zoo; Carolyn Palo