There’s an emu on the loose on the Eastern Shore

January 8, 2025 6:38 PM

Patti LeConte and her husband were driving home from Ocean City on New Year’s morning when they saw traffic slowing near Hebron in Wicomico County. As they got closer, the Ellicott City couple realized the reason why: A 6-foot-tall bird was loping down Route 50.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (15 comments total)

I'm rooting for the emu.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:55 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]

"There's an emu loose on the Eastern Shore. I think eventually everything’s going to be okay, but I have no idea what’s going to happen next. And neither do any of you, and neither do your parents, because there’s an emu loose in on the Eastern Shore. It’s never happened before, no one knows what the emu is going to do next, least of all the emu. He’s never been on the Eastern Shore before, he’s as confused as you are."
posted by SPrintF at 8:08 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]

Mr Contour and I live in Tucson and have a close friend who has several emus. Tucson also has had a few escaped emu stories, and my friend says every time, she gets inundated with texts asking if it's hers. It's never been hers, she is very careful with her dear birdies, but she said she's always tempted to go rescue the poor escaped birds. Apparently more people than you would guess have emus in Tucson.
posted by Illusory contour at 8:58 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]

First the California wildfires, now this.
posted by chasing at 9:18 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]

Username checks out 😀
posted by TreeHugger at 10:05 PM on January 8

You have to admit There's an emu loose on the Eastern Shore is one hell of a title. And I have a vague recollection of encountering a loose emu in Vancouver BC's Stanley Park on a trip to Canada back in the 1970s. We were both somewhat nonplussed and walked around each other gingerly. Me most as it was a rather big bird.
posted by y2karl at 10:09 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]

I always liked driving past Rockawalkin Road.
Some street names just crack me up.
posted by MtDewd at 5:10 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]

It’s like there’s an emu loose on the Eastern Shore. I think eventually everything’s going to be okay, but I have no idea what’s going to happen next. And neither do any of you, and neither do your parents, because there’s an emu loose on the Eastern Shore. It’s never happened before, no one knows what the emu is going to do next, least of all the emu. He’s never been on Route 50 before, he’s as confused as you are. (credit where it's due)
posted by emelenjr at 5:47 AM on January 9 [3 favorites]

One of my closest neighbours (2 fields away) has emus that she hatched from eggs off ebay, and they are frequently loose. Luckily for me they do not cross cattle grids. They seem like they are vaguely bewildered by everything all the time.
posted by Rhedyn at 5:50 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]

Some street names just crack me up.

Last year, an emu went missing in Delaware, reported in the news as near Peanut Tingle Road.
posted by fifthrider at 6:37 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]

Stop keeping wild animals as pets.

How is this still legal in the US in 2025? Any dipshit can seem to get their hands on a wild animal for whatever reason if it hasn't been explicitly banned.

Back home nobody can keep an emu without special husbandry permits and have to adhere to extremely strict welfare standards. You certainly can't just go pick up an egg off eBay and hatch it just because you have a few acres of land and you thought an emu might add to it.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:38 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]

Your Childhood Pet Rock, I agree with you, however note my emu hatching neighbour and I are not in the US.
posted by Rhedyn at 7:23 AM on January 9

The Eastern Shore of MD is a primarily agricultural area. There is a good chance this emu is livestock, not a pet.
posted by hydropsyche at 7:44 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]

So, I never wanted emus, never on a bucket list for me, didn't even really know what they were. But two of them were displaced by fires near me four years ago, I agreed to take them in "for the weekend" and now for years later, I still have Lucy and Ricky. It's been a long weekend. Turns out they are extremely friendly, cuddly and entertaining animals. They also lay magical eggs.
posted by birdsongster at 7:50 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]

I love a good emu story! But small note - I'm not sure when it changed, but articles like this used to start with the location of the event, like:

OCEAN CITY, MD - An emu was found running down the highway on the Eastern Shore this afternoon...

Without that, I spend most of my initial energy scanning the article for concrete location information, as well as the first and last names of the subjects. Especially when there are multiple places in the area called Ocean City.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:16 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]