Emu spotted -- but still missing in Scott County

SIKESTON -- An emu reported missing in Scott County has been spotted in various cornfields during the harvest season but remains on the loose.

About 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sikeston Department of Public Safety received a report of livestock located near the Sikeston Power Plant on West Wakefield, according to DPS incident reports.

"A local farmer was shelling corn and saw it in a cornfield on BB and Salcedo in Sikeston," said Darla Lofton of Sikeston whose husband owns the bird.

Lofton said the emu is 6 feet tall and has gray and tan feathers.

"It blends in with the corn fields and is going from cornfield to cornfield," she said.

Emus are large, flightless fast-running Australian birds resembling the ostrich, with shaggy gray or brown plumage, bare blue skin on the head and neck and three-toed feet.

Lofton said her husband has about 20 of the birds on property near Vanduser.

"He wants to find it and get it back out there," she said of her husband.

Lofton said about a month ago, the emu got loose after it was separated from the other emus because it was wounded.

"We thought it was already dead," Lofton said of the bird after it got loose.

However, since then, Lofton said she's had several friends on the social media site, Facebook, report sightings of the bird and "tag" her in their posts.

Lofton said she and her husband last saw the emu on Sept. 1 after a farmer reported seeing the bird and a relative posted about it on Facebook.

"We were out there and talked to him. We saw it and I turned off into the field row and saw where it went but then it gets dark and you can't see anything," she said.

On Wednesday, -- after the report to DPS -- another person made a Facebook post of seeing the emu on Highway 61 and ZZ, Lofton said.

"It's scared to death, I'm sure. They're not aggressive. It will be more scared of you," she said.

Lofton said she thinks the emu might be following the creek along US Highway 61.

Anyone who spots the emu should contact Lofton or Sikeston DPS at 573-471-6200.