Fanny the emu back home safe
The flightless bird, which captured the area’s attention when it went missing Friday morning, was caught Sunday and returned to her enclosure.
Fanny the emu, after the trip of a lifetime that spanned multiple townships and probably close to 15 miles, is back home and unharmed.
Though it was a scare for her owner, Shaina Darrow, it was likely more of a joy-ride for the flightless bird, who leaped out of her enclosure in Lower Saucon Township Friday morning and was on the loose more than two days.
“She didn't want to go home,” Darrow said. “She was on an adventure, and she wanted to keep adventuring.”
Fanny's journey started at
Darrow's mother's house on Wilhelm Road, where the 7-monthold emu is staying with her mate, an 8-month-old emu named Pete.
Her life, however, began on a 4-acre farm in Hilltown Township, Bucks County, along with Darrow's 25 other exotic birds.
She and her husband operated a farm and a kennel but had to move in October.
While they are renting in Warrington Township, Bucks County, the animals are staying with her mother in Lower Saucon Township.
Fanny, 5 feet tall and about 70 pounds, once had room to run; now she shares an enclosure measuring 40 yards by 40 yards with no net.
So, according to sightings reported to Darrow and social media posts, the bird had an opportunity and ran with it — into neighboring Williams Township and along Route 412 in Hellertown, and then south into Springfield Township in Bucks County. The creature was cornered farther south in Haycock Township, on Pullen Station Road around 2 p.m. Sunday.
With the help of three volunteers — one a Springfield Township officer — Darrow cornered Fanny into a fence and caught her with a sheet, bear hugging her to the ground to calm her. Darrow then put her in a dog crate and brought her back to Pete.
She was unharmed, only losing a few feathers, but definitely tired, Darrow said.
Pete was excited to see his mate, showering her with pecks and kisses. Fanny wasn't having it.
“She didn't want all the attention,” Darrow said.
Darrow said she tried offering the $500 reward to her helpers, but they declined. Now what Darrow needs is a rescue facility willing to take in her three peacocks and two emus, who she says need better accommodations than what they have now.
“I don't have a dog — I have my birds, and that's where my heart is,” she said. “But I would surrender them so they had a safe place to run.”
In the meantime, Darrow said her next purchase will be a bird net for the enclosure.