Zilker Park gets unexpected visitors Thursday evening: two loose emus
Austinites are used to seeing a variety of birds of Zilker Park, but the ones spotted Thursday evening were a bit bigger than usual. And flightless.
According to the Austin Animal Center, two emus were roaming loose near the baseball fields at Zilker Park around 7 p.m., prompting several calls to the center.
#AACStrayoftheDay
It isn't every day that our Animal Protection Officers get a call about two emus running loose at Zilker Park!
If you know who they belong to, please email animal.reclaim@austintexas.gov. pic.twitter.com/RMFmnD0VgU— Austin Animal Center (@austinanimals) April 12, 2024
Two animal protection officers as well as Austin Police Department officers "worked together to corral the birds and captured them with a large net," the center said in a statement to the Statesman.
The emus stayed at the Austin Animal Center in outdoor dog kennels overnight before going to the Austin Zoo Friday afternoon. The zoo will care for the birds until their owner is found, and anyone with information about the owner is asked to email animal.reclaim@austintexas.gov.
"Will they be available for adoption after the stray hold has expired?" one commenter wrote on the animal center's post about the emus. "Asking for a friend."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Two stray emus found loose in Austin park
