Emu chased to death by police in US

AFTER 35 years in captivity this emu broke out. Police gave chase. An arrest was made but things did not end well.

Emu dies after police chase after escaping his Arizona owner's home.

IT was an ugly end to the life of a native Australian bird, living a long way from home.

On Wednesday, an emu named Ichabod escaped from the home of its owner in Tempe, Arizona.

On the loose - possibly for the first time in 35 years - Ichabod showed no sign of planning a return to his suburban Phoenix backyard.

His owner called in authorities from the Phoenix zoo and police to help with his pet's recapture.

"He was elusive," a zoo employee told news service ABC 15.

"It took us a while, but we pressed him against a fence and jumped on him."

That's where it all went south for the bird from Down Under. The combination of heat, stress and age appears to have taken its toll on Ichabod. "That was a very aged emu," said the zoo employee. "So that's a senior out there being chased and jumped on in the high heat."

It is not known whether the bird was named after Ichabod Crane, the fictional character in the famous Washington Irving short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

But if there is any bright note to this story, it's that the owner still has one emu left in his now depleted backyard menagerie - a female named Matilda.