HILLSBOROUGH, N.C.-- Officials in North Carolina are still looking for an emu. The bird has been on the loose for five weeks. It was last spotted jumping on the hood of a car before running away.
The emu, nicknamed “Eno”, was sighted over the weekend. Orange County Animal Services spokesperson Tenille Fox says it’s believed to be in the Hillsborough area.
An Orange County government Twitter account posted an emu’s mugshot Friday with the word “wanted” in red letters. They don’t know where the flightless bird escaped from. However, it has been able to evade capture.
Fox's message is simple: Don't try to catch the elusive bird. Emu's can travel as fast as 30 miles per hour and weigh as much as 100 pounds. Trapping such an animal will be difficult, she says.
Fox says owning emus is legal in Orange County. She says they’re often kept on farms and don’t usually run away.
Emus are the largest birds in the world, according to Animal Facts website. The female emu is larger than the male. The lifespan of an emu is between 10-20 years in the wild and up to 35 years in captivity, the site says.
Emus are omnivores which means that they eat all kinds of foods, both plants and animals. The male and female emus will start to form breeding pairs in summer and will stay together for about 5 months when they will begin to mate.
Click on the Animal Facts to learn more.
In 2017 WFMY News 2 reported on a escaped Emu, but this one was in Alamance County. Alamance County is a neighboring county of Orange. Unfortunately, the bird died.
