An Arizona family is mourning the death of their beloved emu, accusing police of breaking the large bird’s neck while tying up the unusual pet after she escaped from their home.
The “awesome” and “funny” 6-foot emu, named Richard before his owners realized he was female, was photographed calmly walking near his family’s home in Phoenix after escaping on Sept. 28, according to Fox 10.
Richard “was very calm, just wandering around,” viewer Michael Davis told Fox 10 Phoenix. “Not at all aggressive, not threatening.”
Davis called the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department to report the unusual “emu on the loose” report and then filmed it with mounting horror as deputies struggled to capture the 6-year-old bird normally only seen in Australia.
His video showed the “hands around” an agent [her] neck and a rope around his neck at the same time,” Davis told 12 News.
Richard the emu escaped from his enclosure at a home in Phoenix, Arizona, on the morning of September 28. Michael Davis via Fox 10 Phoenix
“And everyone who was here witnessing it said, ‘Is he breathing?’ Are you suffocating him?’” he recalled.
Footage showed an officer grabbing Richard by the neck to try to pull him toward the patrol car’s open doors, only for the large bird to collapse, with officers admitting to bystanders that it appeared he was no longer breathing.
Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies who arrived at the scene were seen tying up the bird and trying to drag it by the neck as it fought back. Michael Davis via Fox 10 Phoenix
The sheriff’s office confirmed to the station that “during the cornering, the bird collapsed and died.”
However, Richard’s owner, Stephanie Moilan, broke down when she told Fox 10 that “there was no cornering” when “she was killed.”
“Cornering, I don’t think you need a lasso for that,” she said through tears.
“If you put a noose around their neck and keep pulling it to try to get them to do what you want them to do, you will kill them.
Owner Stephanie Moilan was devastated by the officers’ response. Fox 10 Phoenix
“It was so inappropriate. It was completely unnecessary,” she said through tears.
“Richard was our family and they killed him,” she said of the “very funny” mascot named after David Spade’s character in “Tommy Boy.”
The owner of the large bird called the officers “reckless,” and said even his “11-year-old son’s first response was, ‘Well, did they call animal control?’ ‘Did they call wildlife response?’”
“I’m really going to miss her,” he said.
Moilan described Richard as “very funny.” Stephanie Moilan via Fox 10 Phoenix
Davis, the neighbor who filmed the encounter with the bird, also said he believes police were harsh in their response.
“I don’t think it needed to happen the way it did,” he told 12 News.
“I really don’t feel like the police were malicious towards the creature, they just weren’t well equipped, they weren’t prepared or trained on how to deal with this situation.”
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office told the Daily Mail that deputies “took into consideration that the emu had been loose before and had previously kicked a deputy deputy in the leg.
“An attempt to contact the Department of Agriculture for assistance was unsuccessful. Responding officers used the resources available at the time and attempted to remove the emu from the neighborhood unharmed, but, unfortunately, they were unsuccessful,” he said, although he states that “the exact medical condition of the emu prior to the incident is unclear.”
“While it is unfortunate that the emu died, MCSO has closed this matter and continues to work to keep county neighborhoods safe every day.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn