Spooked emu leaps over 7-foot fence. Watch Tennessee cops chase it through town
A Tennessee town came together to wrangle a rogue emu after it escaped from a nearby farm.
“MeeMoo the Emu,” as he is called by his owner Harry McKinney, lives on a farm just outside Harriman, Tennessee.
On April 12, MeeMoo was spooked by a logging crew that was working behind McKinney’s house, he said in a Facebook post, causing MeeMoo to jump over their 7-foot fence.
MeeMoo made his way through the neighborhood, and soon Harriman police were contacted to try and wrangle the bird.
McKinney said MeeMoo became “internet famous” as residents of the community took photos and videos of MeeMoo on the loose to help track him down.
Steven McDaniel, a Harriman resident, caught the chase on video and posted it to social media.
MeeMoo led “people all over the county on about a 20 miles chase, sometimes at 40 mph,” McKinney said in his post.
McDaniel told WATE he was outside with his dog when he saw police cars with their lights flashing.
“Cop cars just, blue lights going, going right in front of my house about three miles an hour,” McDaniel told WATE. “Then one of the cops stopped next door and talked to the guy next door and the guy just started like … laughing hysterically, I could hear him from my house.”
Eventually, MeeMoo was surrounded near downtown Harriman, and McKinney and a friend were able to get MeeMoo into McKinney’s truck, according to his post.
MeeMoo was brought home safe and sound.
Emus are part of the ratite family that includes ostrich and rhea, according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. They are raised in Tennessee for their meat, oil, leather and feathers.
As the world’s second largest living bird, emus can grow to nearly 6 feet tall and weigh 110 to 121 pounds, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo.
Harriman is 142 miles east of Nashville.
This story was originally published April 14, 2023 at 10:11 AM with the headline "Spooked emu leaps over 7-foot fence. Watch Tennessee cops chase it through town."
