Excitement over Emu – happy ending with dandelion for escapee “Happy”

An excited caller raised the alarm at the Gallneukirchen fire brigade on Wednesday evening. “There’s an exotic animal running around in my yard,” he explained to emergency services, sending a photo. “It was a flightless bird – we suspected a South American nandu,” says FF commander Martin Purnau. Fifteen minutes later, three men were on the scene and caught the bird by hand. “It wasn’t difficult. It was a young animal that was quite exhausted and not fighting back.”

Ride with a flightless bird in your arms
An investigation at a nearby ostrich farm to see if the boulder could be taken was unsuccessful. “The Freistadt animal shelter then agreed.” During the transport, Purner always held the flightless bird in his arms: “He clearly felt comfortable with it.”

severely starved
There was a big surprise when animal shelter worker Tamara Binder explained to the fire service that they had not caught a nandu but an Australian emu. “He was very starving, we served him a menu of mealworms, dandelion, grass, boiled eggs and chick food,” said animal shelter owner Karin Binder, who was then happily approached on Thursday morning by owner Daniela H. (41) from Alberndorf. On June 3, she had bought an adult emu with eight chicks.

Fox suspected
Three of the six-week-old boys were snatched from the 2,000-square-foot gate on Sunday night. Only two returned Monday morning, the search for the third was unsuccessful. “My three children and I were sad because we were afraid a fox had eaten the little emu,” says H., who is all the more happy after finding the runaway: “We christened him ‘Happy’. When he came back , he immediately threw himself into the food and then slipped under his father’s plumage.”