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.