'Your emu is in my backyard': Community bands together to track runaway bird on 20-mile chase
ROANE COUNTY, TENNESSEE: Harry McKinney’s pet emu, MeeMoo, escaped from his enclosure on Wednesday, April 12, leading to an interesting police chase for about 20 miles. The incident unfolded after the Emu jumped off his 7 feet vertical fence after being spooked by construction workers behind their farm in Roane County. The animal is among the fastest runners on the planet, with their ability to touch 40 miles per hour.
A team from the Harriman Police Department joined the chase which went on over 20 miles before McKinney got back tired MeeMoo into his truck. The owner tried to chase down his pet but soon lost sight of it and asked for help through his Facebook page. With a lot of responses on MeeMoo’s whereabouts, McKinney kept the department updated as they chased the flightless bird. "I said, 'If you see my emu please let me know” and immediately we were flooded with private messages saying like “hey your emu is in my back yard” and all these videos. The videos posted are pretty amazing to us but it is really the tip of the iceberg considering what is out there," McKinney told 6ABC News.
READ MORE
'Zero effort': Bindi Irwin BLASTED for 'useless' response when asked to help Emmanuel the Emu
'Community coming together was such a great thing'
He added, “Everybody in the area got their own private video for this. He went by a lot of the landmarks in town, he went to some popular restaurants, so it really appeared like he knew where he was going.” One of the witnesses Steven McDaniel said, “The community coming together just for that few minutes was such a great thing to see last night. There’s been a lot of comments about just how funny it was and you know everybody is wanting to meet MeeMoo now. It was well worth it just to take a little video you know.”
'Were terrified that he would get hit by a car'
McKinney said after he was able to collect his pet with the help of authorities, “We were terrified that he would get hit by a car and somebody would hit him with a tranquilizer dart, that he would hurt himself in the chase.” Interestingly, the owner shared on social media that the Emu ran away for the second time on Thursday, April 13, but the ‘internet famous’ pet was caught after an hour, as per DailyMail. McKinney has now upgraded the fence and raised it to nine feet.
