Emu runs wild in California neighborhood
An Emu is squirted with water to keep it from fighting with another Emu behind a fence Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, in Tustin. (AP Photo/Orange County Register, Sam Gangwer)
This photo provided by the Tustin Police Department shows an escaped emu on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, in Tustin, Calif. The big bird was safely corralled into a backyard pen it shares with two other emus. A police statement says there was no threat to public safety. (AP Photo/Tustin Police Department)
Tustin police officers and an Orange County Animal Control officer walk out of the backyard of a house in the 300 block of West 6th Street after an escaped Emu was corralled after it was reported running around on the street near Main Street and El Camino Real on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, in Tustin. By the time they got there, neighbors had safely corralled the big bird and returned it to a pen it shares with two other emus. (AP Photo/Orange County Register, Sam Gangwer) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT
TUSTIN, Calif. — It’s not every day you see a 6-foot-tall bird running in traffic.
But Tustin police say that was the report Tuesday morning when an emu got loose from a backyard pen.
The Orange County Register says officers were called to a quiet residential area shortly before 11:30 a.m.
By the time they got there, neighbors had safely corralled the big bird and returned it to a pen it shares with two other emus.
A police statement says there was no threat to public safety.
The emu is a flightless Australian bird that resembles an ostrich. It’s the second-largest bird in the world after the ostrich and can sprint at up to 30 mph.
Authorities say it’s legal to own emus in Orange County with the proper zoning.
