Sightings of the large, flightless bird near Peacehaven were shared online on the morning of August 9, but owner Virgil Szilagyi-Ruggins quickly tracked it down and returned it home.
Mr Szilagyi-Ruggins, who owns a sustainable logistics company, said the bird had escaped through a weak point in an old fence at the private farm near Peacehaven where his eight emus live.
He told The Argus: “Once the Facebook posts and calls started coming in, I counted mine and realised one was missing.
“I went to find the escape route and found the emu 15 minutes later on the neighbour’s field.”
The moment the escaped emu was found on land neighbouring its 20-acre home. (Image: Virgil Szilagyi-Ruggins)
The escaped bird was recovered without injury after Mr Szilagyi-Ruggins and his partner were able to call it over and catch it.
“Luckily, our emus are tame, and so once I found him, I could call him close, and with my partner, we could catch him with a net in an instant,” he said.
Mr Szilagyi-Ruggins said he was introduced to keeping emus while growing up in Hungary and has cared for the animals ever since.
Mr Szilagyi-Ruggins says the birds are “very tame, gentle, and curious.” (Image: Virgil Szilagyi-Ruggins)
He added that the distance travelled by the escaped emu was not unusual for the species.
The 20-acre site where they now live had been unused for at least a decade before the emus arrived, and Mr Szilagyi-Ruggins said work has been ongoing to repair and replace ageing sections of fencing.
The escaped emu found a weak spot where an old fence post had collapsed and “simply walked out,” he said, before wandering onto neighbouring land.
The section of fencing the emu escaped through has now been replaced.
Native to Australia, emus are the world’s second-largest living bird after the ostrich and can grow to almost six feet tall.
Mr Szilagyi-Ruggins, who describes emus as “very tame, gentle and curious animals,” hopes to one day create opportunities for people to meet and learn about them.
“Emus can live for around 50 years, so in a way we all have time,” he said.