A mysterious emu on the loose for more than two weeks in New Jersey was finally captured and has a new permanent home at a zoo.
The Hopatcong Animal Shelter announced on social media that the emu was captured Thursday on Colby Road in Byram Township.
Hopatcong Animal Control Officer Gianna DiMatteo had been spotted on the dead-end road multiple times in recent days, with one local couple giving the animal food and water.
DiMatteo and personnel from Hound Hunters of New Jersey set up a metal pen with the emu watching.
“We set up a 10 x 10 pen with a gate on it. He watched us, it was actually hysterical, he literally watched us put together the pen from probably five feet away,” DiMatteo told NorthJersey.com. “He just kept casually walking by us … I took some apples. I tossed it in. He walked right in. I walked right up behind him, shut the gate on him and that was it.”
The emu was taken to the Space Farms Zoo & Museum, where it will have a new permanent home.
DiMatteo said officials still do not know where the emu came from.
