Missing 6ft bird is reunited with her owner… then goes on the run AGAIN two days later

As a flightless bird nearly 6ft tall, you’d think it would be easy for her owner to keep an eye on her.

But for the second time in a week Ethel the emu has gone on the run, to the bemusement of locals, the police and the RSPCA.

She was first reported missing to police on Thursday last week and spent five days on the run from her home near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

She gave officers the slip – Ethel was said to have ‘run off at speed’ – but was reunited with her owner on Monday evening, the RSPCA said.

Just two days later, however, Ethel was on the loose again.

Residents in Sprotbrough spotted her in a field behind their gardens, perilously close to the nearby A1(M) motorway, one of the busiest roads in the country, leading to fears that she could cause a serious incident if she was to wander on to the carriageway.

One local said: ‘I’d hate for it to get hurt or even cause an accident. It’s a funny thing to have as a domestic pet.’

Local businessman Rod Bloor, 56, who keeps three other emus, previously said Ethel was ‘a wanderer that comes and goes as it pleases’ to woodland that he and others own in the area. At the time of her first escape, he told reporters: ‘People kept taking pictures, shouting and chasing her.

‘Emus are not stupid. She knows where she lives. She’s just afraid to come back because she thinks she’ll be chased again. If people just leave her alone, she will return to my woodlands.’

Last night Mr Bloor strongly denied being Ethel’s owner.

South Yorkshire Police said they were aware of further sightings of Ethel but would not send out officers out unless she wandered into a road.