on social media<\/a> that officers and animal control personnel were dispatched after several 911 calls reported an emu running loose through traffic last week.\n<\/p>\n“Our dispatch started getting calls there was an emu walking through the parking lot of our Walmart here in town and trying to attack people,” Officer Kellen Burnes told KPNX-TV.<\/p>\n
Burnes said one caller had mistaken the Australian bird for a baby giraffe.<\/p>\n
He said it took some time to chase down the speedy animal, which he later learned is named Frank.<\/p>\n
“They can run about 30 miles an hour, and I guess he had on the afterburners that day,” Burnes said.\n<\/p>\n
Burnes said the emu was finally caught thanks to its pursuers learning an unusual tidbit of animal trivia: emus can’t walk backward. The officers were able to corner the emu next to a fence and take it into custody.<\/p>\n
“Frank is doing well. Now he’s back on his property,” Burnes said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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