How a fugitive emu was finally captured in New Hampshire

An emu that had been loose and wandering around New Hampshire for more than a week has been caught.

Maria Colby, a bird specialist who operates Wings of the Dawn Wildlife Sanctuary in Henniker, says a father and son captured the large, flightless bird in Bow Sunday afternoon.

The Concord Monitor reports Ms. Colby searched for the bird throughout the week with police and neighbors.

The father and son used Colby's handheld net to capture the bird. Several people helped pick it up and carry it to Colby's car.

The bird is strong, noted its captors. "When he went to stand up in the cage, we actually saw the top of the cage bulge up," Ed King told WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H. "We had to jump on it and basically put our weight on it, hold it in place, but you could really feel it pushing against you."

There is still no word on where the emu came from.

The son attempted to catch the bird earlier on Sunday, but the 5-foot tall, male emu bit him and ran.

Emus is the second largest bird in the world by height (after the ostrich) and are native to Australia. Emus are flightless birds that can travel great distances, and can sprint at speeds reaching 30 mph.

Colby says the bird appears to be healthy.

The Concord Monitor reports that the emu was first spotted by residents Sept. 11 and has been in the woods of Hampshire Hills, a residential neighborhood in town.

It’s not the first time the area has seen lost emus; two escaped from a Dunbarton farm in 2007 and were on the lam for about a week before they were captured. Those two are still alive, living at the Sunup Emu Farm in Barnstead.