AN EMU escaped from a garden in Boar’s Hill and died after being hit by a car, Thames Valley Police said yesterday.

The bird was first spotted by Emma Styles on Fox Lane at about 5.30am on Tuesday during her commute into Oxford from Swindon.

She said: “It was pitch black but I could see something in the road. I assumed it was a farm animal but it was this huge bird – it must have been six feet tall. It was really windy so I wondered if maybe its pen was damaged and it escaped.”

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The BMW worker, 37, said: “I parked up in a layby and got out of the car. It didn’t seem very vicious. It was so big, looking down on me. It walked over to me as if it wanted me to rescue it. I was frantically trying to call the police or the council to report it.”

A Thames Valley Police spokeswoman said that the bird was from a private exotic animal farm on the road and the owner collected it later that morning.

She added that the bird was “slumped by the side of the road” after being hit by a car and later died.

 

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