Texas deputies help corral wayward emus

10/22/15 With the help of Round Rock Police, Lori Kessler of Round Rock safely rounds up her four emus which were recovered on Steve Oleson's Valley Creek property. Suzanne Cordeiro / For American-Statesman

Credit: Suzanne Cordeiro

Credit: Suzanne Cordeiro

10/22/15 With the help of Round Rock Police, Lori Kessler of Round Rock safely rounds up her four emus which were recovered on Steve Oleson's Valley Creek property. Suzanne Cordeiro / For American-Statesman


It took some work, but Lori Kessler's four emus that escaped from Round Rock on Thursday have been returned to her, she said.

While Williamson County livestock deputies corralled the emus into someone’s yard about a mile-and-a-half away from the Kessler’s house on Friday morning, she picked them up one by one and put them into the deputies’ truck. The emus put up a struggle, but Kessler calmed the birds down by putting a sock over each of their heads once they were on the truck.

The deputies corralled the emus in a yard on Valley Creek Drive, just east of Round Rock, where they were kept for about two hours.

Kessler has owned the emus for less than a year, she said. Her husband bought them off Craigslist for her as a gift. Three of them are 6 months old, and one is 1 year old.