The Delaware State Police finally apprehended an escapee who had evaded authorities for more than two months. The six-foot-tall runaway forced schools to lock down. CBS News reports that some locals had guns handy in case the potential intruder came near.
However, life can return to normal now, because the loose emu is no longer on the lam.
“It’s safe,” Daniel Shortridge, the state Agriculture Department spokesperson, told the Wilmington News Journal. “It’s happy. He’s real content.” No one has claimed the emu yet, so it will be taken to a “safe and secure” facility to see a vet and unlearn its wild tendencies after a brief taste of freedom. Authorities are pretty sure he belongs to someone. “It was definitely a pet because it’s very comfortable around people,” Shortridge says. Also, the fact that it is Delaware — not known for its wild emus — also narrows things down a bit.
Earlier this week, the emu got close enough to a few schools that administrators decided to keep kids inside at recess. One grandfather shared the reaction he had when his grandson told him the exciting news with NBC10. “You weren’t allowed to go play in school because a giant emu was running around in your playground and it was being chased by police?”
