UK: A 40-year-old man has been arrested on a litany of driving charges including failing to stop at the scene of a collision, dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drugs, drink driving and finally an assault occasioning actual bodily harm. This man was observed by Dean Wade – the executive chef at the Old Bell Hotel – driving into a shop front in the town of Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The man was with a woman and after the crash they ran away. Wade chased the pair for about a thousand yards until they arrived at the Malmesbury Animal Sanctuary run by Janinka Diverio. In the sanctuary there were emus.
The driver of the vehicle decided to enter the emu enclosure. At this stage Dean Wade was close behind and he told the man: “Don’t go in there, look at that emu, it will do you in”. The emu is a large flightless bird about 6-foot tall with a large beak about the size of a person’s foot!
The driver said: “That emu isn’t going to do me in, I will kick the f***out of that emu”. the driver then started throwing kung fu kicks and punches at the emu who moved its neck and head out of the way of the blows. In retaliation the emu pecked the man in the ribs and head.
Dean said that it must have hurt but his only regret was that he did not bring his smart phone to record the interesting incident. Dean said: “My only regret is I didn’t have my phone in my hand to video it; the words don’t do it justice.”
Dean said that he left the man and woman in the field and flagged down a police car. Officers searched for the couple with the help of a police helicopter. Eventually a man and a woman were arrested near the animal sanctuary.
Janinka said that her emus were not aggressive but would protect their territory against an aggressor such as a person entering their enclosure. She said: “If someone goes at them of course they are going to peck them”. No emus were harmed.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, the man was arrested and charged while the woman was released. The emus played their part in the story and perhaps it is fair to say in the arrest of the driver.
There are some more articles on birds below.
