Upstate New York Family Rescues Emu By Keeping It in Basement
You often hear about good Samaritans providing shelter to lost cats and dogs while their owners are found, but you don't often hear about a lost emu...until now.
An emu managed to get loose in Chenango county - they still haven't determined where the big bird came from - and it led townspeople on quite an adventure. According to The Daily Star, the bird was pursued "through the neighborhood, jumping an eight-foot fence in the process. Several community members and a deputy from the Chenango County Sheriff’s office, assisted in the chase, pulling his car into the roadway to block traffic when the bird took off for the Interstate 88 on-ramp."
Ultimately, the emu was lucky to end up in the vicinity of Jennifer Oates - a resident of Afton. She also happens to have experience with emus, having grown up with them as pets.
Once Oates was able to wrangle the bird, she lured it into her basement to spend the night, providing it with blankets and feeding it fruit and lettuce. The following day, the emu was picked up by Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville.