SELDEN, NY — What would the ‘LiMu Emu’ say?
A mob of emus on the loose were rescued from a busy roadway in Selden on Thursday afternoon, animal rescuers say.
In a Facebook post, Strong Island Animal Rescue said they were first alerted that a baby emu was loose on Middle County Road, and when they got there, rescuers found three juvenile emus running around and “in danger of getting hit by cars” on the busy road.
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In video footage from the group’s page, founder, Frankie Floridia, can be seen rounding up the birds within a couple of minutes, before placing them in the cab of his truck.
Once inside, the animals damaged about $100 worth of equipment, and Floridia’s daughter’s homework, but all was good in the end.
In another post, Floridia noted that “no rescue is complete” without the help of the rescue’s friends, whether it is officers from Suffolk police or a Facebook follower.
The rescue will always be the one “doing the tough cases, but it does not stop there,” he said. “We then call upon the kind-hearted friends and co-rescuers that help us get the animals where they need to be safe.”
The rescue group was alerted to the animals’ plight by a group of teachers from Bicycle Path Kindergarten Center, and rescuers called a colleague for help in getting a truck and trailer to take them to Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown where they will he sheltered and cared for.
“It takes an army and we are grateful,” the group’s founder, said in a Facebook post. “Teamwork saves them.”
It was not clear how the animals ended up on the busy street.
“That is the big mystery,” Floridia said.
In photos from the rescue, the birds can be seen trotting across a parking lot one after the other.
Indigenous to Australia, Emus are large birds that cannot fly, according to Wikipedia.
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It is also unknown how long the animals were on the loose and how they ended up where they did.
They had been spotted in the area on residents’ Ring cameras, starting the night before, Floridia said.
No one has come forward to claim them.
Floridia speculated that the animals are someone’s pets and that they possibly do not have the proper permits to keep them at their home, so that is why they are not coming forward.
Sweetbriar’s director of wildlife rehabilitation, Jeanine Bendicksen, theorized that the animals could have been kept as a potential food source, noting that it was three juvenile emus that were found and the birds only lay one egg.
“Nobody has put it out there,” she said. “If you lost emus, you are going to put it out there on Facebook. Unfortunately, no one is coming forward. It brings to light what people really don’t think about.”
If they were used for food, it is likely that the animals, which require a lot of space, were kept in deplorable conditions, according to Bendicksen.
“I would be thrilled if someone came forward and said they have a beautiful farm, and they just escaped, but that is the best-case scenario,” she said.
The center is looking to rehab the birds before putting them up for adoption.
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