Escaped emu in Haverhill, Massachusetts calmed with pear

Even here an emu walking down a suburban street would be a rare sight, but seasoned animal controllers in the US faced a new challenge.

An emu about to be sent away to retirement on a farm has made a temporary getaway, fleeing through suburban streets of a US town.

The emu escaped from the backyard of a home in Haverhill, Massachusetts according to local news outlet the Eagle-Tribune.

Calls came in to local police at around 9.15am local time on Wednesday as residents spotted the flightless bird roaming around and running towards a nearby school.

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An emu on the loose in the US. Picture: Haverhill Police

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Police and animal control officers finally caught up with the emu and tried to corral the bird.

But in the end, it was a piece of fruit which finally saved the day. Officers picked a pear off a nearby tree and gave it to the bird – apparently enough to calm it down – and the emu was carried away to safety.

Kermit is carried off after calming down.

While emus are native to Australia, they are also farmed across the world for their meat, skin and eggs. Authorities reportedly called emu farms in the local area but it didn’t belong to any of them.

They finally found out the bird – named Kermit – was being cared for by a woman who fosters animals until they can find a new home and was being prepared to be sent to a farm in the neighbouring state of Maine.

Animal control officer Michelle Cannon now has her first emu rescue under her belt after more than a decade on the job according to a social media post from Haverhill Police.