- Canadian police chased down escaped ostriches who “created traffic hazards” on Alberta streets.
- A video showed someone in a police vehicle grabbing an ostrich by its neck but the bird got away.
- Ostriches are the fastest birds in the world that run on land, per the Smithsonian.
A herd of ostriches escaped their enclosure in Canada earlier this week and the amusing encounter with police trying to wrangle the group was caught on video.
Authorities in Taber, Alberta said they chased down “a number” of the birds that had “made their way out of town where they created traffic hazards” on Thursday, the Taber Police Service said on Facebook.
Ostriches are the fastest birds in the world that run on land, reaching speeds up to 43 mph, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. When ostriches face a predator, their “first line of defense is to run fast and far,” according to the institute.
A video of the scene shared by ABC News showed police chasing one of the birds down an Alberta street. Someone leaned out of the passenger side of the vehicle and grabbed the bird by its neck before dropping it. The bird recovered and continued to flee the police.
—ABC News (@ABC) November 26, 2022
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) worked with the Taber police to confine the ostriches “so the owners could safely capture them,” the Taber police said in its statement.
