Police in Moriyama, a city in Japan's Shiga Prefecture, spent two hours chasing a runaway emu through a residential neighborhood on Wednesday after the flightless bird escaped from a mobile zoo set up near the city center.
Officers first responded to reports of a roughly two-meter-tall "ostrich" loose among houses and parked cars. The bird was later identified as an emu, less than a year old, that had been allowed to roam near the entrance of the traveling Horii Zoo exhibit before it got away. Video captured by residents and shared by UPI showed the bird striding calmly past storefronts as officers trailed behind on foot, occasionally breaking into a jog whenever it picked up speed.
The pursuit ended without incident when police cornered the emu at an apartment complex and safely returned it to its handlers. No injuries were reported among residents, officers or the bird itself, according to local reporting from the scene.
Horii Zoo said the exact means of the bird's escape had not yet been determined and that it was reviewing its security measures for future mobile exhibits. The zoo said it intends to keep exhibiting emus despite the incident, according to coverage of the episode. Traveling animal exhibits of this kind are a common weekend draw at Japanese shopping centers and public squares, typically featuring small mammals and birds that handlers walk or display on leashes for visiting children; escapes are rare but not unheard of, and Wednesday's episode prompted swift calls online for tighter enclosure standards at such pop-up events.
Emus, native to Australia, can run in short bursts at speeds exceeding 30 miles per hour, though Wednesday's runaway appeared content to amble through the neighborhood rather than sprint. The escape drew wide attention on Japanese social media, where clips of the bird's unhurried stroll past a police cordon were widely shared before its recapture, with many commenters noting the officers' patient, low-key approach to coaxing the animal into a corner rather than attempting to tackle or net it outright.