Emu Shot in Calvert County Maryland

[MysticalMom]

How sad is this? It almost makes me ashamed to say I'm from Southern Maryland. They'd been looking for this big bird for 9 weeks and no one ever came forward to say it was their's. Poor Emu. Did he really have to kill it? Wasn't there another way?

I don't know anything about Emu's. I only have ducks. But I once met one named Curly, up close and personal, that belonged to a non active member of this board. She was awesome.

 

[chickenzoo]

How sad....... I couldn't hear anything, but I don't like the looks of it.

 

[willkatdawson]

"we're gonna eat it up good" ...........I'm sure he was really worried about the bird getting in the road, I wonder why it was running toward the road anyway. Could it be, it was being hunted? Poor Emu.

 

[Parrotchick]

Oh, Mystical Mom (fellow adopter of Clarksburg Quackers) that is so awful! What a caricature of a redneck! A friend of mine the other day was just telling me a tale of a lost emu (this friend had actually seen the Clarksburg Quackers next to the road on the way to work and thought they maybe wandered up from the nearby lake). I don't recall if the story was somebody who tried to catch a found emu or somebody who had lost theirs.

Another friend told me a story of about 50 emus that had escaped in the Washington DC area about ten years ago. The police were called and of course they had no clue how to catch emus. One of the officers started twirling his keychain around as he pondered the scenario and as an emu came up to investigate the shiny object, it was caught. Soon all the cops were twirling their keychains and I understand that all the emus were eventually caught in this manner.

When I was working at a petting farm this fall, some customers inadvertently let an emu out. Without a prayer of actually catching her, we were able to run her into one of the fenced pastures. Her buddies were just on the other side of the fence, so we were gradually able to get her back in with them.

My emu Babs was hand raised and is very tame. She used to run around the yard and would come when I whistled. Now that she's grown up and used to being in the pasture, I'm not sure I would trust her to do that anymore. She and her friend do come for dinner when I call "Emus!"

That emu belongs to somebody and I guess the only hope of that jerk paying for his evil deed is if they step forward. It doesn't seem right that you can just shoot any old animal ("I had to kill it to save it from the road"); if it was a dog there would be a big hue and cry. Unfortunately since they're not native species, they have no federal protection.

 

[Imp]

That just seems so wrong.

The shooters name is Nutwell, how apropo.

Imp

 

[MysticalMom]

Parrotchick... ( My Clarksburg Quackers are well and spoiled. Hope yours are too.)

I was sick with worry for the poor thing when I first heard they were trying to get it.( took them 9 weeks!) People were using the word "hunt" from the very beginning. I just knew someone was going to shoot it. I was so sad when I saw the report. All I could do what shake my head and think, "What a moron." I know it's crazy to wish that these idiots around here would educate themselves a little bit. And the thing was little too. Not quite 4 feet tall.

Imp, Nutwell Nutjob....you're right, how appropriate.

I want to try and hatch my own emu eggs eventually. I've been researching it ever since I met Curly last year.

 

[arherp]

This is so sad! Man seemed like not one of the smartest blokes out there..

 

[redhen]

Quote:
True..true..

 

[Desert Rooster]

thats horrible

 

[J3172]

This is so dumb, if I was out goose hunting and saw an emu run by, shooting it would the last thing I'd think of. I would wonder who's emu got out, not "I wonder how he's going to taste".