2 emus went missing in SC, but one has been captured and returned home (2024)

GREEN SEA— When Sam Morace watched two of her father’s beloved emus escape their pen in June, she knew a rescue mission would be pointless.

"You can’t outrun them. Once they start running hard, they’re gone, completely gone," Morace said of her father’s missing birds. "He’s sad, but there’s not much you can do. They’re not like horses where you can go up to a horse or a dog and grab them."

The flightless feathered duo, named Thelma and Louise, went missing in the Green Sea community of Horry County for nearly six months.

But on Nov. 26, one of the two girls was successfully captured and returned to the home. The family is still unsure which one was captured because the fowl look identical.

"I'm really happy to have her back," Artie Morace said.

The emu will be quarantined in a separate pen for a month in order to be inspected by a veterinarian and treated for her wounds. Although she grew in size during her six-month escape, the bird was shot in the leg with buck shot, though she was only hit with one of the pellets, the family said.

News of their disappearance garnered national attention after Horry County police posted on Facebook in early November that they were aware of circulating social media posts that referenced “emus on the loose in the Green Sea area.”

Mikayla Moskov, spokeswoman for Horry County police, said the birds had been spotted in multiple hamlets in northern Horry, including areas near Green Sea, Loris and Duford.

"HCPD Environmental Services is communicating with the owner regarding the animals and working to aid him/discuss different options," Moskov said. "There is no threat posed by or associated with the animals."

News of the missing birds comes on the heels of 43 juvenile female rhesus macaque monkeys escaping the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee on Nov. 6.Four monkeys remain at large as of Nov. 22.

Morace said Thelma and Louise were temporarily being held with a male emu, Big Bird, in the family’s horse pen, while the family fixed all of their animal enclosures. Though Big Bird was raised from birth by the Morace family, Thelma and Louise were recent rescues, which Morace said made them nervous.

Upon seeing their opportunity, the duo hopped the fence of the horse pen and dashed down their family’s dirt road, with one going right and the other left.

Native to Australia, emus are the second-largest living birds in the world, with long necks and tiny wings. The dark-colored birds have an average height of 5 feet, 7 inches and can reach speeds of over 30 mph. They are also strong swimmers, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

The birds typically live five to 10 years, though longer in human care, and they eat seeds, fruits, flowers, young shoots and insects, and require daily access to fresh water. In captivity, emus are typically fed produce, alfalfa and pellets.

Due to their size and speed, adult emus do not have many predators, aside from dingoes and wedge-tailed eagles in their native country, according to the Smithsonian and Bush Heritage Australia.

Have you seen these emus?

Steve Jolly, who lives in Green Sea, said he hadn't seen Thelma and Louise.

"We're pretty isolated out here, but that doesn't mean there can't be one somewhere around," Jolly said, looking out at a cotton field near his house.

Laura Hancock, an employee at Sugar Bear's convenience store in Green Sea, remembered hearing about the emus escaping. A member of Artie Morace's family came into the store to ask if she and other workers had seen the giant birds.

"'You lost your emus?'" Hancock recalls asking the family member, laughing. "'What do you mean you lost your emus?' It caught my attention."

The captured bird was successfully cornered in a couple's backyard overnight in the Nichols area, about 15 minutes from the Morace home. The next morning around 10:30 a.m., Artie Morace drove to the house, picked up the 100-pound bird and brought her back in his truck.

The family thought about purchasing tranquilizers to help retrieve the missing bird, but they haven't tried that due to price constraints.

But Sam Morace said some residents have joked or even threatened on social media to shoot the birds. She said she has not heard of the missing bird being found dead.

“Don't kill the birds,” Sam Morace said. “They're flightless. They're not going to bother you. There's going to be bigger issues if you shoot our bird. I better not see any emus on anybody's table for turkey dinner.”

Sam Morace, who also raises horses on her family’s farm, said this was the first time the birds had ever escaped.

Her father started raising emus in 2012. Though the birds are considered exotic, Morace said she wasn't surprised by his decision. She said he also owns a peacock that sleeps in his bedroom.

He even considered getting ostriches at his farm, though he dropped that plan after learning of the need for higher fences.

"Nothing goes past me with that man when it comes to his birds," Sam Morace said. "He loves these birds."

This story was updated after one of the birds was captured around midday Nov. 26.