Kicker: Catching a big bird

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Police officers have a lot to deal with. 

Officers in the middle of a traffic stop wound up chasing a great big bird running down the streets of Franklin, Massachusetts.

Sergeant Jason Reilly told television station WFXT…

RILEY: It looked like an ostrich.

Mmm, emu. Police found its owner and spent an hour tracking the big bird. Her name is Pippa. But Pippa wasn’t going to come back easily. 

….which was no surprise to Kathy Gatchel, Pippa’s owner.

GATCHEL: They’re very difficult to catch. They’re fast birds. They’re not very friendly.

But there’s an app for that! Gatchel’s daughter played emu sounds on her iPhone to attract the bird. And it worked! When Pippa got close enough, she jumped on the emu’s  back. Then the part that really did the job:

RILEY: We did some quick thinking, and one of our officers took his sock off and put it over the emu’s head.

That’s when Pippa gave in and went happily back to her pen. 

Sometimes all you need is to just put a sock over it.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Washington State Patrol)

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