Right Now, There Are 3-4 Emus Totally Running Wild in Downeast Maine

Weird things are always happening in Maine.

Probably it's because we're so sparsely populated and spread out, but I feel like animals are always causing some kind of excitement around the state. Whether it's something as sad as the fate of the purple deer down in Southern Maine, or something as delightful as the goat that ran around Dedham, animals are in the news.

Sometimes it's animals that normally don't even live here that capture our attention. Look at how much everyone freaked out about the Stellar's Sea Eagle. Mainers and folks from away were flocking to the coast, trying to get a glimpse at it. In fact, birds are on today's agenda in Downeast Maine.

There are currently 3 or 4 emus on the lam Downeast.

In the Pembroke/Dennysville area, near-ish to Machias, hunters have been running into emus in the woods. In case you don't know what an emu is, it's a large flightless bird that walks upright. By large, I mean basically a slightly smaller ostrich. This is small flock of robins lost in the woods.

People have been spotting them all over, and no one seems 100% sure who owns them, according to a post on Facebook. People have been trying to gather groups to try and capture them, as it can take up to 6 adults to wrangle one without getting hurt. And other people have just wondered what they can do to help, or try and figure out who they belong to.

Can they survive the winter if they're not caught?

Good question! There are folks in Maine who keep them domestically year round, but it's kind of hard to say what issue they might face in the wild. Apparently, they can handle most early winter temps, but as it gets colder, they'd face some extreme hardship. They really need to be brought inside when it dips below 25 degrees.

Hopefully someone can either figure out who they belong to, or get them some place where they can be cared for properly. Hopefully this isn't a case of someone ditching them in the woods. That would be tragic. But with any luck there will be a happy ending to this story. We'll keep you posted.

I bet you'll find emus on this list, but some of the others were kind of a surprise...