Bucks emu leads crew in chase

A wayward emu - a 6-foot-tall cousin of the ostrich with a kick stronger than a mule - escaped from a Bucks County ranch, wandered 10 miles, and led police on a chase through neighborhoods in Doylestown.

For two hours yesterday, police pursued the fleet-footed fowl. Emus can't fly, but they can sprint as fast as a horse - up to 30 m.p.h.

The emu grew tired of the chase about 11 a.m. Patrolmen threw a net over the bird, wrestled it to the ground, wrangled it into a large cage, and loaded it onto a truck.

"It was a happy ending to a long ordeal," said Chief Stephen White of the Doylestown police.

The incident began Monday when the owner of an emu ranch called police at 3 p.m. to report one of his oversized and over-feathered birds had flown the coop. Police issued an all points emu bulletin. The local newspaper published a wanted notice.

Emu sightings were reported as far as 10 miles away in Chalfont. After 18 hours on the lam, the bird was spotted by a Doylestown woman. It had taken up temporary residence in her backyard on Sandy Ridge Road.

"It wasn't hard to identify," said Chief White. "It had a certain charm."

Officers were dispatched immediately.

"It didn't want to cooperate," White said. "It didn't go easily."

Police gave pursuit through several neighborhoods before the emu surrendered in the only way emus know how.

"It laid down," White said. "That's how we were able to finally catch up to it."

The bird, its feathers slightly ruffled, was driven home and was reunited with its family flock.

The emu, which does not have a proper name, is one of about 50 belonging to Leigh Hopkins, a retired pharmacist who raises the birds for their oil.

Betty Hopkins said her husband uses the oil to create skin care products that are reputedly good for joint pain and carple tunnel syndrome.

The birds are also farmed for restaurants that feature emu steaks, Hopkins said. Her husband often uses their eggs to make quiche.

"They're huge pretty jade green eggs," she said. "You can also scramble them. One emu egg is equivalent to 10 chicken eggs."

She said the emu was OK, tuckered out, but apparently happy to be home after its overnight adventure. She said the bird most likely vaulted over a 6-foot-high fence.

"I don't think his friends missed him," Betty Hopkins said. "They're not the smartest birds in the world."