ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA — Cecil the Emu was hungry. And he considered the zookeeper “fair game.”
An unnamed zookeeper was kicked and scratched while attempting to feed the emu on March 11, according to adelaidenow.com. The emu had been “off food for a week” when the female zookeeper, said to be in her 20s, went into the private area to feed him and was attacked, the zoo reported in a statement.
Cecil joined Adelaide Zoo in May 2016 as a chick after his father and all of his siblings were killed by a car.
After being rescued from the roadside by keeper Di, he was hand raised at home for a year before moving to the zoo.
“Emus are like any wild animal, they can be really gentle and occasionally they can behave in a way that you don’t expect,” said zoo curator Mark Smith.
A native to Australia, the emu is the second-largest living bird behind the ostrich. Even though they can’t fly, the emu can sprint up to 50 kilometers per hour.
Emus, of course, started The Bird War in 1932 in Australia.