Unreal moment Bay Area cops chase emu through city streets

By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-18 02:41:19 | Updated at 2026-10-18 03:57:09 1 hour ago

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A runaway emu turned a California neighborhood into a feathered fiasco, darting around traffic and forcing deputies to become bird wranglers.

Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputies were spotted chasing the speedy bird through the streets just days after another emu caused a traffic headache nearby.

Members of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office track down and capture an escaped emu to keep it out of traffic until its owner arrives. Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office deputies track down an escaped emu. Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office
The emu was out on the streets at night. Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office

“When we say no two days are the same in this line of work, we really mean it. Just another day on the job… apparently ‘keeping the peace’ sometimes translates to keeping an emu out of traffic long enough for its owner to come get it,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said on Saturday.

“And no this is not a repeat offender from the CHP Santa Cruz emu incident. Different bird, same agenda: wreak havoc,” they continued.

This came just days after another emu was found on the streets. Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office

The latest feathered fugitive came just days after California Highway Patrol officers dealt with a separate emu, prompting multiple calls from concerned motorists.

“Fortunately, the Emu’s owner quickly arrived on the scene, and we managed to safely corral their feathery friend. A big shoutout and thank you to everyone who called in to help us handle this unique situation!” CHP Santa Cruz posted on Wednesday.

CHP Santa Cruz received numerous calls about the bird walking into traffic. CHP – Santa Cruz

Facebook users quickly made jokes about the situation.

“It was just making sure that homeowner had car insurance,” one user commented. “He was looking for the audition for the Liberty Mutual car insurance commercial,” another person added on.

David Hoffman, the human actor in Liberty Mutual’s “Limu Emu & Doug” ad campaign, is shown in an undated photo. Courtesy of Liberty Mutual

The insurance company’s LiMu Emu campaign debuted in 2019, pairing the feathered mascot with his human sidekick, Doug, in ads promoting Liberty Mutual’s “Only pay for what you need” slogan.

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