You Picked On The Wrong Bird! Man Loses Roadside Wrestle With Giant Escaped Emu After Dramatic Headbutt In Devon

A man came off second-best in an extraordinary roadside scrap with a runaway emu after the giant bird headbutted him and made a dash for freedom.

The bizarre tussle unfolded on a quiet country lane near Salcombe, Devon, when the emu, nicknamed Side Neck, broke out of its enclosure and ended up in the middle of the road.

A passer-by who spotted the 6ft-plus flightless bird tried to wrestle it back towards the farm gates. What followed was 20 seconds of chaotic grappling that has since been watched by millions.‘Emu down, emu down!’ the man can be heard shouting as he grapples with the powerful creature. An alpaca peered over the farm gates, watching the entire spectacle as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Then came the knockout blow. Side Neck suddenly headbutted its would-be captor, sending him sprawling across the tarmac. The emu promptly shook itself off, strutted back through the open gate and left a trail of feathers behind it.

James Barker, 46, who filmed the whole thing while driving past on 9 September, could barely contain his laughter. ‘It’s not something you see every day!’ he said. ‘I had to take video otherwise people wouldn’t believe me.‘I saw the bird on the road, so I pulled up to let the guy get hold of it – but it was too funny not to try and film. The alpaca standing in the gateway made the scene. It was evident the bird was not quite so keen to get back to his home!’

Mr Barker added that the emu ‘kind of strutted off at the end’ and did not appear particularly panicked. His wife Ro later posted the clip online, where it quickly racked up more than two million views. One commenter wrote: ‘You can’t make that up, this has made my day.’ Another simply said: ‘Only in Salcombe!’

The emu’s owner, Mark Harrington, revealed Side Neck earned his name because ‘his head goes from side-to-side when he runs’. He admitted the birds are regular escape artists. ‘They’re always getting out, spitting and kicking, but they are funny,’ he said. A workmate who lives on the property often forgets to shut the gate, he added.

Despite the latest breakout, Mr Harrington is planning to get more emus. He currently has just two and says they are easy to look after and help keep foxes away from his ducks and chickens.

Emus can stand as tall as a man and weigh around nine stone, with powerful legs that pack a serious punch. Anyone tempted to try the same roadside takedown might want to think twice – Side Neck clearly does not take kindly to being told where to go.