Flock of escaped ostriches keeps police busy in Taber

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About 20 escaped ostriches bolted down the streets of the small southern Alberta town of Taber on Thursday morning, roaming freely as they evaded the several police officers trying to capture them.

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A video of part of the unusual incident shows a man RCMP say is the owner of the ostriches hanging out the side of a police truck trying to grab ahold of one of the massive birds as it runs down the street. The ostrich stumbles and pulls away from the truck, running off as a second RCMP cruiser gives chase.

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RCMP say the ostriches escaped a local farm early Thursday morning, prompting a response from multiple Mounties and Taber police. Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said as of 1:30 p.m. all of the ostriches had been corralled and safely captured by their owner, aside from one that unfortunately died after being struck by a vehicle.

Savinkoff said Mounties are regularly called to help wrangle escaped livestock like horses and cows, but ostriches are definitely on the stranger end of the spectrum.

“Ostrich is definitely not the usual one that we would go to work expecting to deal with,” he said. “That’s one of the things as an RCMP officer: it’s really hard to predict what you’ll be doing on any day, and certainly there are days where you go back home after the end of a long shift and you’re surprised by what you encountered during that shift.”

Taber is located around 250 kilometres southeast of Calgary.