Quote (Proint @ Dec 12 2015 10:58pm)
A google search of Emu massacre led me to this
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.true-crime/HsZgW8u4jPIQuote
22 Emus Clubbed to Death by Frustrated Owner
COLLEYVILLE, Texas (Reuter) - Penned in and unable to escape, 22 emus
were clubbed to death by a Texas man frustrated by his financial losses in breeding the
once-valuable flightless birds, police said Saturday.
The man and his brother were trying to relocate the emus to a rural
property from a ranch in Colleyville, near Fort Worth, Friday but could
not move the birds so they allegedly began beating them with an aluminum
baseball bat.
Sgt. Clyde Davis said police responded to a neighbor's call and found a
pile of dead emus lying inside a trailer with more scattered around a
pen.
"There was one bird still alive which had to be euthanized when I got
there," said Reed Young of the Humane Society of North Texas. "It was
vomiting blood and had blood on its face, and was staggering around, and
then it fell to the ground and couldn't get up anymore."
The market for emu meat, oil and eggs boomed several years ago but
quickly became saturated as large numbers of people started buying them
and breeding them in the hope of getting rich quickly.
Young said a pair of emus, which once fetched thousands of dollars, are
now worth about $200.
"The owner told us he couldn't even take them to the slaughterhouse in
this area, because the slaughterhouse already had all the meat and oil
they needed," he said. "He told me he didn't feel like he had done
anything wrong."
Police confiscated a baseball bat and Davis said the men could be
charged with cruelty to animals. The charge carries a maximum one year
in prison and a fine of up to $4,000.
Eighty-six more emus, all alive, were found on the 10-acre property.
They were taken from the owner's custody and a judge will decide next
week whether to auction them off, give them to the Human Society for
placement or return them to the owner.
Davis said the men may have had little idea of how to handle the birds.
"What they were apparently doing is grabbing them around the neck but,
from what I understand from the animal control people, the best way is
to grab them by their wingettes and then you're able to guide them
wherever you want them to go," he said.