FORT COLLINS, Colo. (KDVR) — A bystander driver picked up an animal after it was hit by a truck in Fort Collins on Saturday, but it wasn’t typical Colorado wildlife – it was an emu.
According to the Fort Collins Police Services, officers assisted another agency with a call about an “ostrich” reportedly running loose on the west side of the city.
“Around 6 p.m. last Saturday. FCPS received a report of a collision involving an emu and a truck at College/Vine. A passerby stopped to help and placed the bird in her vehicle. Responding FCPS officers were going to request the assistance of Animal Control, but the passerby asked to take it to the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital,” Kate with FCPS told FOX31.
“The emu was initially stunned by the collision but revived itself on the way to the VTH. The passerby took it to the VTH where it remained for holding until owners came to get it the next day,” Kate said.
The driver who picked up the emu sent FOX31 an email explaining the situation. She wasn’t sure what it was after it was hit.
“I thought it was a pillow. I thought, ‘great, somebody lost a pillow,’” she said.
She said she put the bird – that she nicknamed Clyde – in the back of her Hyundai Sonata after she hit it.
“He popped to life, and all I thought of, was ‘Tommy Boy’ and the deer!” she said.
She tried to take it to the humane society but was denied. Then she went to the CSU vet hospital, where she was also denied but said after hours of them trying to figure out what to do with it, they found someone who would take it the next day.
She even gave the bird a name – Clyde – during the time she spent with it: “Why not? Our dog’s named ‘Rufus.’ Seems like it would fit.”
It is a mystery as to who owns the animal and where is it housed.
It’s not a question if this good deed by a driver in the right place at the right time would repeat itself.
“I would do it again, in a heartbeat, because I love animals, and he needed to be rescued,” she said.