Emu-wrangling police officers capture bird after unannounced visit to NC family’s home

Jonathan Limehouse
·1 min read
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A North Carolina father and his three children got quite a surprise Saturday when an emu decided to lay down beside them in Lenoir, police said.

A female emu named Kevin showed up on Eastwood Park Drive in Lenoir and left the family in “shock,” the city’s police department said in a Facebook post. The dad called Lenoir Police, which sent officers to try their hand at emu wrangling.

Officers placed a dog leash on Kevin and fed her by hand so she’d go into a neighbor’s fenced-in backyard, police said. The Caldwell County Animal Care Enforcement Division came to pick up and care for Kevin until her owners were found, police said.

A female emu named “Kevin”
A female emu named “Kevin”

Kevin lives in Moravian Falls, which is 30-plus miles northeast of Lenoir “as the emu walks,” police said. The Lenoir Police Department didn’t say who owned the emu.

The emu is the second-largest living bird by height, sitting behind its relative, the ostrich, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.