Authorities seek owner of large flightless bird

An unclaimed runaway emu escaped would-be captors in a field in front of Minden Elementary School on Tuesday. Throughout the week, reports of the emu have surfaced from Johnson Lane to Minden.

"Apparently the Douglas County Sheriff's Office has been trying to get him all week," said Neil Bishop, who works for Bently Pressurized Bearings, located off Buckeye Road where the emu has been seen roaming the fields.

Bishop was one of three Bently employees trying to corner the emu on Tuesday. Students on the playground of Minden Elementary School shouted as the nearly 5-foot bird, with its neck elongated, head alert, jaunted nimbly through grass. The men drew a tight triangle around it in one corner, but the bird's footwork was too quick, and it found a breach in the human formation and dashed in long, graceful strides to the other side of the field.

"We had a bunch of ranch guys trying to catch this thing earlier, and they couldn't," said Bishop. "These were professional ropers."

Bishop said the owner needs to be found. The bird would probably respond to its owner.

"You have to stay real low in the field and not spook the thing," he said. "They can't fly, but they can run 30 mph."

Bishop admitted he's had no realworld experience with emus.

"I threw some corn out earlier. He tasted a little, but wasn't going for it," he said.

Douglas County Animal Care and Services Supervisor Janet Duzan said they are not trained to deal with the bird.

"They are very difficult to catch and handle, and we do not have the training or the equipment to do so," she said. "We have put in calls to the Humane Society looking for a rescue that will come and round him up. We absolutely don't want it to get hurt or cause an accident."

Sgt. Jim Halsey, public information officer for the sheriff's office, said they'd been receiving calls about the emu for two weeks.

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