OXFORD — If your travels about town this summer have taken you down Rabbit Valley Road, there may be a chance you’ve seen an emu, who goes by the name of Emmanuel roaming about the neighborhood.

Emmanuel is the lone ratite (species of large bird) on a small farm, along with a coterie of more traditional livestock – cattle, swine and poultry. He gets along well with his pasture mates but has not had much success with his own kind. His original emu mate died after becoming ill and owner Zachary Lizotte has so far had trouble finding him any suitable replacements.

But this summer, perhaps hoping to find the hen of his dreams, Emmanuel took to breaking out and exploring. Early jaunts to the end of the driveway evolved into walks down the road.

You could say that he is a lucky bird, since his neighbors have seen him out and about and take action to help. Shauna Broyer, who lives across the road, has pitched in at times, calling owner Zachary Lizotte and even assisting with traffic control to help protect Emmanuel.

“Shauna called me one day and was like ‘your emu’s out,”’ Lizotte said of Emmanuel’s escalating antics. “I came right home and Shauna had like 12 cars backed up on either side and he’s in the middle of the road. There were people videoing, wondering why there’s this dinosaur-like thing in the road.

“I talked with her and was able to casually grab him. That was the first time I’ve ever really picked him up. I walked him about 120 feet back to the driveway, where he knew his surroundings, and he took off for the pasture.”

Broyer was alerted to the situation when she heard a pick-up truck revving its motor in the road and found its occupants engaging with Emmanuel in a sort of aggressive way. She called Lizotte and also Oxford Animal Control Officer Robert Larrabee.

“I was really worried that he was going to get hit,” she told the Advertiser Democrat. “He’s a cautious animal, but you never know” what might happen if a driver did not see him, or how he might react to someone who comes across as a threat.

More recently, Emmanuel began exploring the trails behind the Lizotte’s farm. Imagine the surprise of finding a big bird resembling an ostrich in your dooryard, which is what happened to Maine Sen. Rick Bennett and his wife Karen on August 27.

Around 7:30 a.m. that day Lizotte realized Emmanuel was gone again.

“Somehow he scaled the fence,” Lizotte said. “And ended up going through the woods until he was over by Bennett Road. That’s about four miles. I looked around, for wet spots he likes to play in, any sign, until about 2:30.”

As soon as he got back to his house, ACO Larrabee pulled into the yard to ask Lizotte if Emmanuel was missing again. One had been spotted at the Bennetts’ home, whose property abuts Lizotte’s and has a series of trail loops that they have been building over time. Apparently Emmanuel’s curiosity got the better of him and he followed the trail until he ended up in Bennett’s driveway, where he introduced himself to the couple.

“We were concerned that the emu would end up on Route 26,” Rick Bennett said. With heavy traffic, the Bennetts worked to keep Emmanuel near their house. Karen offered him lettuce and birdfeed to snack on but he had no interest it it. He did, however, decided to lay down and take a rest.

Bennett saw that he had a length of fence tape hanging. After tying a piece of rope to the tape Bennett tried to steer him towards this barn where he would be safer while they figured out what to do next. But being herded by strangers was not something Emmanuel was up for. He started moving around, and not in the direction the Bennetts hoped he would.

The two kept the emu company, at a comfortable distance, until Larrabee arrived with Lizotte to collect him. But even with Emmanuel’s familiar friend there he was not predisposed to following orders or be loaded in Lizotte’s truck.

Finally, Bennett offered to accompany them back the same way Emmanuel had come, on foot through the woods. After a long day on the lam, it may have been a relief for him to retrace his steps and reunite with his pasture mates back on Rabbit Valley Road.

But the band of neighbors did not make it all the way back without one more diversion. Tuckered out, Emmanuel eventually decided he had had enough and sat (lay?) down.

He was done to the point of cooperating completely with his human saviors. Lizotte went ahead alone and returned to the trail with his truck, easily loading Emmanuel in the back and taking him home.

Since that day, the emu has seen his pasture-ranging privileges suspended until he can re-earn the trust he has broken.

Lizotte hopes he and Emmanuel can reset to his previous behavior: sightings of farm predators like foxes had been few and far between, and in addition to protecting the Lizotte’s flock of 60 chickens, the emu is also effective at keeping the peace when any of the seven roosters start to act up.

In the event that anyone finds themselves in an encounter with Emmanuel, Lizotte’s advice is to stand firm but maintain a distance.

“Be calm, and this goes with any emu,” Lizotte said. “They can sense fear, much like a dog or any animal. If they feel threatened, they will stand as tall as possible and fluff their feathers out. What you do, and this is what my kids do, make yourself as big as you can. More than likely you will tame him [that way].”

Lizotte is hopeful that once emu breeding season is over Emmanuel will no longer feel lured to explore and life on the farm will return to normal.

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