SANDWICH, Mass. — Cape Cod residents snapped photos, shared videos and traded Liberty Mutual jokes as an emu who had escaped his Marstons Mills farm enjoyed an hours-long escapade Sunday afternoon.
Friendly emu Walter had likely been spooked and jumped two five-foot fences at Olde Homestead Farm while his owners Joan Spiegel and Russell Giammarco were at a rodeo event in Rhode Island.
“Our emu escaped from his farm and is out having the time of his life,” said Russell’s son Nick Giammarco, as he searched for the bird. “I got a text message, followed by a phone call and more text messages that the emu Walter had escaped from the farm.”
The huge, flightless bird native to Australia and the second-largest bird in the world behind the ostrich can sprint up to 30 miles per hour.
Walter quickly crossed town lines, made an appearance at Holly Ridge Golf Course and finally sauntered into the Baronis’ Sandwich yard, as neighbors shared the bird’s whereabouts on social media.
“My husband sent me a text and said, ‘There’s an emu in our yard,’ with pictures,” said Allyson Baroni. “And I was like, ‘This is so fake. This is ridiculous.’”
Her husband called police and Nick Giammarco arrived, ready to capture his family’s feathered friend.
“It took a little chase, and [I] gave him another hug and just plopped him right down,” Giammarco said of apprehending Walter.
“My dad was like, ‘Yeah, and he was tackling him, and there’s feathers everywhere,’” said an amused Annabelle Baroni of her father relaying the big bird take-down over the phone.
A grateful Spiegel joined them shortly after, leashing a tired Walter and planting a kiss on his long neck before Russell walked the large bird into his trailer for the ride home.
“I just was hugging him,” Spiegel said of reuniting with the bird. “He is actually relieved. He’s not normally super cuddly. But now he has lost his confidence a little.”
Walter suffered minor injuries likely from wandering through thick brush. But his family had feared much worse – that he could have been hurt by a coyote or a car.
“I’m glad he was found safe, little Walter,” Baroni said. “Not-so-little.”
Spiegel, who had been planning to put an Apple AirTag on Walter to track him just before his escape, said she would be putting one on him once they got home.
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