An emu that decided it had seen enough of captivity led police in Rockland County, New York, on an airborne-assisted chase Saturday morning after bolting from a local petting zoo.
The bird made its break for freedom around 8:45 a.m. from a petting zoo in Ramapo, according to the Town of Ramapo Police Department, which said officers were summoned once the flightless Australian native was spotted sprinting through the area on foot. Rather than send a line of squad cars after a bird capable of running roughly 30 miles an hour, the department turned to its Drone as First Responder unit, using a Skydio quadcopter to track the emu's movements from overhead while officers coordinated the pursuit on the ground, as detailed in UPI's account of the chase.
The aerial view let officers anticipate turns and close in without cornering the bird into traffic, and the emu was captured without incident and returned to the petting zoo. Police said there were no injuries and no citations issued, to the animal or otherwise.
Ramapo police leaned into the moment on social media, writing that "an emu decided to make a break for it from a local petting zoo," and adding a line that quickly made the rounds online:
We don't know why the chicken crossed the road, but the emu crossed the road because Sgt. Anton didn't give it an option.
Town of Ramapo Police Department
Video of the pursuit, shared widely after ABC7 New York's report on the recovery, shows the drone's-eye view of the bird zig-zagging across lawns as officers close in on foot. Local outlet Daily Voice, which first flagged the chase to a wider audience, reported that the department has used the drone unit for several wildlife calls this year, though none quite as widely shared as Saturday's.
Emus can stand close to six feet tall and are known escape artists in captivity, thanks to powerful legs built for outrunning predators on the Australian plains. Rockland County's petting zoo has not said how the bird got loose, and police, tongue firmly in cheek, said there is "no word yet on whether it plans to escape again."
