The saga surrounding “Eno the Emu” came to an end on Thursday when the emu died during an attempt to capture and relocate the bird, according to Orange County Animal Services.
“We had hoped for a better outcome,” said Orange County Animal Services Director Bob Marotto in a release. “We did all we knew to do. We consulted with zoo experts to determine the best course. Unfortunately, she did not respond to our efforts.”
The tale of “Eno the Emu” became famous worldwide as the flightless bird eluded capture attempts from authorities for months. The bird was initially spotted in Chatham County, but traveled north to Hillsborough where it was seen several times.
Media outlets such as CNN, the New York Times, and HuffPost even picked up on the story.
Orange County embraced the hype surrounding “Eno the Emu.” The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau incorporated “Eno” into its advertising campaign and the Expedition School in Hillsborough turned the emu into a teachable moment for its students.
RIP @OCEmu1
??? – September 12, 2019 pic.twitter.com/9e9WLzgQif
— WCHL & Chapelboro (@WCHLChapelboro) September 12, 2019
Although animal control services reached out to known emu owners in the area, no one came forward to claim responsibility for “Eno.”
The plan to capture the emu, developed in conjunction with a board-certified avian veterinarian and two specialists from the North Carolina Zoo, who were present throughout the attempt, involved sedating the bird to make it easy to transport it.
The bird did not respond to the low dose of sedatives, Marotto said, but eventually suffered “an event” while being restrained and died. The team tried to revive the bird through CPR but was unsuccessful.
“Everyone is devastated,” Marotto said.
“We were concerned it could come out on the roadway and cause an accident or be injured itself, and we were also concerned with the opening of hunting season. We didn’t feel leaving it alone was a viable option.”
Our area leaders and department heads are imbeciles at every level. Any quick search and you’ll find countless cases of municipalities successfully capturing emus.
well it seemed to have been doing just fine on its own before yall went and killt it dead trying to catch it so bad!
So Sad, Should have left it alone and let nature handle it. No . Humans had to kill it instead
In allmaot 100 degree temps…you decide, yes, today is the day to sedate and restrain a wild creature! Really? Doesn’t sound well thought out to me.
I think it better if it name Emily or Elmer
All those “professionals” in the care of Emus and people from the Zoo and she died? Such a shame that the “pros” didn’t know what they were doing and now, a bird that was doing fine and minding her own business, is dead. Didn’t need to happen like this. I kinda question if this is what really happened. Who is to say a trigger happy government employee didn’t decide to take things in their own hands🤔 makes one wonder. RIP Emu
We didn’t want it to get hurt, so we killed it. Think about that when the government want to take over your health care.
Yet another example of the unfathomable behavior of humans – there was never a “need “ to capture – so… to some degree this is just an example of murder
Should have left the Emu alone. Shame.