Fredericton — After 8 were killed and 26 critically injured during efforts to the subdue the 6-foot tall, velociraptor-like emu and bring it back into captivity to the Noonan Farm Petting Zoo, the large and incredibly violent bird is once again loose and pecking a trail of death and mayhem in its wake.
The emu — who was thought to be safely secured inside a barn with heavily chained doors — managed to dig itself out, and again escape into a nearby wooded area, not without killing the petting zoo’s beloved miniature pony Finnegan by crushing its throat with its snake-like neck and pecking out the animal’s soft brown eyes with its bloodthirsty beak.
The savage bird, capable of running at speeds as high as 60 kilometres per hour, quickly found itself in downtown Fredericton where it proceeded to gouge out the eyes of unsuspecting pedestrians as well as disembowel countless victims with its razor-sharp talons. No definitive number has been confirmed yet but sources say the number of dead could be as high 87.
Most disturbing of all, the emu — whose species was long thought to have lost the ability of flight some 65 million years ago — has just recently been spotted soaring over Fredericton as residents flee in terror. A grainy photo taken less than an hour ago appears to show the emu dropping an elderly woman in a wheelchair into the St. John River.
As to how the once-tame emu turned to such violence? Noonan Farm Petting Zoo staff suspect it was the work of local teenagers known to break into the farm late in the evening and feed the animals methamphetamine “just to see what happens.”
As of press time, RCMP are asking people in the to area remain indoors and remove any bird feed that might be left outside their homes.