Rare emu chased by Lincolnshire Police officers

"I learnt today that if you are trying to hold a bird like this, grab the legs first," said one of the PCs

A mysterious emu captured by Lincolnshire Police officers on Wednesday 19 March 2014 (Lincolnshire Police/Twitter)

Police officers are urging the owners of a mysterious and rare emu to come forward and collect the bird after they had to chase it down on Wednesday.

When the bird was spotted in a garden in the village of Coningsby, PCs Tom Harrison and Gary Young from Lincolnshire police were tasked with capturing the bird.

They eventually cornered the emu in a garage, before taking it in their patrol car to nearby Tattershall Farm Park.

PC Tom Harrison told BBC News he had "learnt today that if you are trying to hold a bird like this, grab the legs first”

He added: "It wasn't best pleased to see us and was even less happy to go into the car.

"It's not as big as an ostrich but it certainly felt as strong as one.

"We drove it to a nearby park and I had to hold it down, as humanely as possible, all the way.

"I then spent 10 minutes hoovering out the car as I couldn't hand it over to the next shift in that condition."

Shirley Morrell, owner of the animal park where the bird is being kept, told BBC News that the emu had suffered ”a bit of a trauma getting arrested".

Ms Morrell said emus like this were "quite unusual so someone will be missing it".

"Unless of course it's a horror and they are glad to see the back of it,“ she added.

"It's had a bit of a trauma getting arrested so we will give it a chance to calm down before having a closer look."