Emu Crossing

I was late this morning (which isn’t exactly a rare thing) but it was for an unusual reason. I was driving along the country backroads that I normally take to avoid traffic when I saw something that took a moment to register.

There was an emu in the middle of the road.

I really need to start carrying a camera around with me. The thing was as big as I am, and I have no experience with emus so I wasn’t getting out of the truck to shepherd it to the farm nearby that I assume it escaped from. I knocked on the door of the house but noone was home. Their neighbor laughed when I told them about it and said “Don’t worry they won’t go far. They have two that get out all the time.” The neighbor didn’t have their phone number. I felt bad leaving it because I was afraid it would get hit by a car but there’s no way with all the trees that I could use my truck to shoo it into their yard.

I’ve stopped to help animals a number of times, like turtles, and a young cow once, but an emu was a new one for me.

If they’re home tomorrow I’ll stop by and make sure it was okay and maybe ask for some ’emu-wranglin’ techniques should I ever counter gigantic birds in the middle of the road again.

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