After 8 years with us and approximately at 10 years of age, our female emu Mel died in a tragic accident last weekend. On Saturday evening, as I went out to feed the animals, I saw that Mel was throwing a fit (which she sometimes does), racing around the pasture and doing her crazy dance, when she suddenly started attacking the horses. Emu attacks are scary and they can do some real damage with those claws. So the horses ran away, but she kept going after them. I rushed into the pasture to see if I can intervene without putting my self in too much danger. But at that moment one of the horses had had enough and kicked out and her hoof connected with Mel’s head and she collapsed. Within 30 seconds it was over.

We can’t be sure what set her off, but some neighbors down the road had just started a party and had set up a very loud PA system foe some sort of karaoke, and Mel was always very sensitive to noises. The July 4 fireworks were absolute torture for the poor bird. So the unusual noise may have set her off. The horses had always been very tolerant of her antics, but that was just too much. I really can’t blame the horse.

Mel, with all her quirks, was a good bird and an excellent layer. She did the best she could with that tiny brain of hers. We will miss her. And her mate Sidney does miss her, too, I think.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 26th, 2024 at 6:05 am and is filed under Emu, Our gang, RIP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.