The Rocky Mountain West is still the wild, wild west. And in 2020, all bets are off. Anything can happen.
Earlier in the week, Idaho police were called to wrangle an alligator who had escaped from the Idaho Reptile Zoo and was hiding under someone’s trailer.
They successfully “wrangled” the gator and he made it back without incident.
Here in Wyoming, another exotic creature was on the loose. An emu, the second-largest living bird in the world (by height), escaped from its home somewhere in Laramie County.
Just like up in Idaho, law enforcement was called and the gigantic bird was “wrangled” as well and brought back home.
Explains the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office: “Yesterday afternoon Deputy Herlihey was dispatched to 4300 block of Summit Dr. for an Emu on the loose call. She was able to successfully wrangle the critter and return it home. When you go into law enforcement there’s just no telling what you’ll get to see.”
It’s not light duty to capture one of these things. They can run up to 30mph and their legs are among the strongest of any animal. This is an animal Dwight Schrute would respect.
It’s hard to imagine anything more powerful than a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick but the emu would have to rank up there.
What’s most impressive are its toes, however. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica (it still exists), under the right conditions, the toe claws of emus are capable of eviscerating animals.
Thankfully for Deputy Herlihey, the right conditions did not occur.
If you’d like to see an emu in attack mode, here’s a video from some idiot clearly antagonizing the bird. We are strongly on the side of the emu.
