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MCKEESPORT, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A McKeesport family says their 3-year-old pet emu was hunted and killed by their neighbors’ pit bulls.
The frantic chase was captured on cellphone video. It shows two dogs chasing after the emu. It lasts only moments, but for one family, the ending changed everything.
“It was like a hunting,” said David Callos.
Callos and Carly Stroman said they received a call on Tuesday afternoon that one of their emus was out and under attack by their neighbor’s dogs.
“By the time I got there, McKeesport police had already had to put her down,” Stroman said. “She was lying in the middle of the road at the bottom of our property line after the dogs had torn her throat out, and the damage they did is just unbelievable.”
The emu, named Barb, was 3 years old, 160 pounds and 6 feet tall. Allos and Stroman say that, like their other emus, she wasn’t aggressive, and this was her first time getting out.
They say they don’t have any video of the attack, only the ones circulating online. Also, they say their neighbor hasn’t said anything to them.
“We’ve had problems with these neighbors and these dogs before, and they deny having the dogs,” Callos said.
“We spoke with the dog warden about pressing charges, at least doing some kind of a civil suit for the killing of the animal. It’s considered livestock, and they’re expensive,” Callos added.
KDKA-TV reached out to the McKeesport Police Department on Tuesday but did not hear back.
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