Wild, untrained emus Thelma and Louise on the loose in South Carolina

On By Littum

Two Australian birds have been added to the list of exotic animals that South Carolina officials are currently working to track down, following the recent escape of 43 monkeys from an Alpha Genesis primate research facility a few weeks ago.

The runaway emus, named Thelma and Louise, escaped from their home in Loris, a town about 100 miles northeast of Charleston, about three months ago, owner Sam Morace said CBS News on Friday. According to Morace, Thelma and Louise are still at large.

The Horry County Police Department is aware of recent sightings circulating on social media, writes in a Facebook post Wednesday “we are not emu-sed.” The missing birds have been discovered in Green Sea, an unincorporated area near Loris, the agency said.

“The department is aware of the reported emu, and we have contacted the owner. We are working to assist the owner in efforts to locate and capture the animals,” the post says. “There is no risk to society associated with the emu at this time.”

Efforts to recapture dozens of monkeys continue

The news of Thelma and Louise’s great escape comes as authorities in the small town of Yemassee, about 60 miles west of Charleston, continue to work to recapture all of the female rhesus monkeys who went on a rampage after a caretaker at the research facility failed to lock. the doors after a feeding on Wednesday 6 November. Thirty-two of the 43 escaped monkeys have been recaptured, leaving 11 at large.

USA TODAY reached out to the Horris County Police Department for further comment, but did not immediately receive a response Friday.

Running emus are ‘wild and untrained’, owner says

A few hours before Horry County police officials wrote about Thelma and Louise, Morace drafted a message in a local Facebook groupconfirming that the loose emus people have been seeing around town belonged to her.

“They are wild and not trained like the ones we have in the house,” Morace wrote. “Local law enforcement has already been to my home, we’re trying to get a sedative approved so we can bring them home.”

Morace thanked everyone for their questions and concerns, but noted that if “emus were this easy to catch, they’d already be home.” A number of community members offered criticism, suggestions and even well wishes to Morace about her runaway emu situation.

The large flightless creatures are the second largest living bird with an average height of more than 5 1/2 feet, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Females, like the ones that escaped in South Carolina, can weigh more than 130 pounds, the zoo said. They are typically found in Australia and are not native to the United States.

“They decided they were going to jump the fence when we tried to grab one of them to move her to another pen and she didn’t like that,” Morace said in a statement obtained by CBS News got. “So she’s living the wild life, well, they both are.”