A ‘timid’ emu named Ethel is still on the run today after eluding RSPCA and police officers for more than five days.
The six-foot-tall bird – normally native to Australia – fled its home last Thursday after being spooked by passers-by taking its photograph.
The majestic bird has now been sighted on more than a dozen occasions in parks all across Doncaster, South Yorkshire, but has so far avoided capture.
Ethel the emu is the talk of south Yorkshire after being spotted by locals roaming around south Doncaster for five days now
Ethel’s owner, Kerry Dobson, says the bird is a much loved family pet and is appealing for the public’s help to get her home
The long-limbed bird has managed to evade concerned locals and the authorities so far. Emus can run at speeds of more than 30mph, making them difficult to capture. Emus can grow to be more than 6 feet tall
Ethel’s owner says she is ‘terrified’ and ‘not used to being out’. Police and the RSPCA are still looking for the evasive creature. ‘It ran off from officers and then we could not locate it,’ a South Yorkshire Police spokesperson says
When approached, the bird – which can run at over 30mph – has simply fled and out-paced its would-be human captors.
There have also been reports of gangs of local youths pelting the terrified bird with stones.
Today the bird’s owner Kerry Dobson put out a desperate appeal to get her feathery pal back home after she suddenly escaped from their property in Doncaster.
Kerry, originally from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said ‘she’s terrified’.
‘She’s been running since Thursday so could be anywhere.
‘She’s had stones thrown at her and all sorts, she’s not used to being out she must be terrified.
‘I’m aware of all the sightings Thursday and Friday… I need to know of more recent sightings on Saturday and Sunday.’
Kerry added: ‘We are in contact with the police and RSPCA but had no luck catching her; she just ran further [sic].
‘They couldn’t catch her, she was so scared she just kept running.’
Both South Yorkshire Police and the RSPCA have been bombarded with calls about the bird.
A police spokesman recently said: ‘The last sightings suggested it was heading back towards where it was believed to live in Sprotbrough, but we are unable to confirm if it was reunited with its owner as it ran off from officers and we then could not locate it.
‘No one came forward from our post on social media to say they were the owners.’
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson told MailOnline on Monday that they hadn’t received reports of a sighting for several days.
‘At 3.40pm on Thursday (6 August) police were alerted to an emu loose on York Road in Doncaster.
‘Attending officers sought to contain the bird safely in a nearby field, but the emu ran off at speed.’
Meanwhile, an RSPCA spokesman said: ‘We’ve advised that we will come out to try to catch it if it is in an enclosed area it can’t escape from, so it sounds like it’s still at large at the moment.’
It was later spotted in Newlands Park, Sprotbrough and on the Trans Pennine Trail near Cusworth – before heading east towards Dunscroft.
Rod Bloor, who owns the land which the emu lives on, and has owned emus in the past, said that all people need to do is just leave her alone and she will return home.
Mr Bloor said: ‘The reason that she has been out for so long was because people kept chasing her.
‘Emus are not stupid – she knows exactly where she lives – she is just afraid to come back because she’ll be afraid of being chased again.
‘The reason it left in the first place was because people come down and take pictures and shout, they do all sorts – it makes her timid.
‘Emus are not dangerous at all. If you’re friendly to her, she will be to you too.
‘If people just leave her alone, she will return to my woodlands.’
Mr Bloor stated that he believes he has seen the Emu about a mile away from his home, and hopes that she is now making her way back to her home.