Runaway Rhea on the loose in Jersey

Tuesday 02 June 2015

She’s about five-foot tall, her name’s Rosie-Lee and she’s on the loose around St John.

Oh, and she’s a Greater American Rhea – a large flightless bird related to the ostrich and the emu, originally from South America.

Rosie-Lee went missing from her home at Seamus Saddlery in St John on Friday evening, along with her two male companions. Although the boys were quickly rounded up the next morning, she’s still on the loose and has been spotted around St John and Trinity.

Her owner, Seamus Nicolle, is desperate to get her back – he’s asked anyone who spots her to give him a bell on 07797 720864.

“The female was spotted was near Lyndale Sports in Trinity, and yesterday she was spotted in St John’s,” said Seamus.

“They can be gone very quickly from one field to another, but they’re very difficult to catch.

“It took nine of us on Saturday morning to bring the second male in. You have to just use a long rope and as many hands as possible and keep chasing them from one field to another. You have to do it slowly, and calmly.”

Seamus has had the Rheas for 11 years, and he says they make great pets.

And they can get by in the wild for some time  - several couples escaped from an exotic meat farm in northern Germany in the mid 1990s, and the population is flourishing, with an estimated 100 in the wild. They may be a long way from their native South America but that hasn’t slowed them down – some have been seen in Holland, thought to have come from the same escaped flock.