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Sunday, June 29, 1997

Men used baseball bats to kill their emus, police say

COLLEYVILLE (AP) - Animal cruelty charges are being considered against two men accused of using baseball bats to kill 22 emus they were raising as a business venture.

The men apparently believed the only way to cut their business losses was to kill the flightless birds, police said. Emus are raised for their meat, feathers, oil and leather.

"I have never seen anyone resort to beating their animals because the market may have dropped out. That's absolutely ridiculous," Young said. "This is the worst case of physical abuse I've seen - because of the sheer numbers."

One of the birds was alive but near death when officers arrived about noon Friday in response to a neighbor's complaint, said Reed Young, chief cruelty investigator with the Humane Society of North Texas.

Animal control officers had to kill the injured bird after freeing it from a fence where it had gotten stuck, he said.

"It couldn't even stand," Young said.

Blood oozed from the eyes and the mouths of the dead animals as they lay on the ground, officials said.

Neither man was arrested, police said. Animal cruelty charges may be brought against them pending the outcome of an investigation, police said.

Young said the 22 emus were in a 40-by-20-foot pen with nowhere to flee behind a home in Colleyville, a Fort Worth suburb a few miles west of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The birds' carcasses remained on the property late Friday afternoon, Colleyville police Sgt. Clyde Davis said.

"They may be left up to the owner to dispose of them," he said.

Young said late Friday that he obtained an on-site seizure order for 86 remaining emus that were not attacked. Authorities will provide food and water for the birds, which will be kept on the Colleyville property, Young said.

"I have a judge's order that they (the owners) can't go anywhere near the birds," he said. "They agreed to stay away from them."

Police were told the emus have been at the property about six years. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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