WALTON COUNTY, Ga. — Walton County deputies are investigating after an emu was shot and killed in the backyard of a woman’s home.
According to the incident report, investigators were called to the woman’s home on Monday where they found the emu and spoke to its owner.
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The owner said the emu had escaped from his home three days and he had been searching for it since. It’s unclear why the man had the emu at his home.
Because he couldn’t catch it, the owner gave several of his neighbors permission to shoot and kill the bird if they found it.
The man who shot the emu told investigators that he fired one shot from a Marlin .35 caliber rifle and killed the animal, the incident report says.
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Channel 2′s Tom Regan spoke to some neighbors who said the owner of the animal should have made a greater effort to tranquilize and capture the runaway bird instead of allowing someone to shoot it on private property.
“It was a peaceful animal, people were trying to feed it dog food, that’s a lot different story than some rabid animal,” neighbor Jackson Schreiber said.
Schreiber is referring to the emu that had been wandering the neighborhood after escaping from a backyard animal compound.
On Monday afternoon, he heard gunfire in his wooded backyard then he went outside to take a look.
“Obviously after hearing the gunshots, I asked the guys what was going on, and they said they had an issue with an animal they had to put down,” Schreiber said.
Schreiber says he spotted the large fast, bird on the ground, writhing in pain after being shot. He said another neighbor came out and told the man who shot the emu, to put it out of its misery.
“He was over there kicking and gasping for air. He didn’t say anything. She said, “I’m going to call the police,”” Schreiber said.
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Investigators determined that the shooter was standing on the homeowner’s property and was aiming toward the Anslee Lakes Rock Quarry.
The woman who owned the home said she didn’t want the shooter trespassed from her property, but said he didn’t have her permission to be there and that the gunshot disturbed her and her children.
Investigators say the man who shot the emu, Troy McCoy, is charged with disorderly conduct. Regan stopped by his house to ask if he had any comment, he said he would make that at his court appearance.
He was also given a citation for creating a disturbance on the woman’s property with no permission to be there and discharging his firearm into an area with no clear backdrop.
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