{"id":259424,"date":"2025-11-12T23:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T23:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/259424\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T23:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T23:43:12","slug":"woman-fulfils-dream-of-rearing-an-emu-after-buying-egg-on-ebay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/259424\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman fulfils dream of rearing an emu after buying egg on eBay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bea SwallowWest of England<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Rhi Evans bought the fertilised emu egg during a late-night shopping spree<\/p>\n

A late night shopping spree turned into a dream come true for one animal lover after she successfully hatched an emu egg. <\/p>\n

Rhi Evans, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, has no memory of buying the egg but woke one morning in 2022 to an email confirmation from eBay saying it was on its way. <\/p>\n

Unable to secure a refund, Ms Evans, who has a lifelong fascination for large prehistoric birds, decided to “wing it” and try and hatch it on her three-acre farm. <\/p>\n

Ms Evans adapted her property to rear the chick, but an expert in emu care warned the birds were “not pets for a casual keeper”.<\/p>\n

Ms Evans had been scrolling through eBay one night, aimlessly adding “random things” to her basket when she bought the \u00a337 egg. <\/p>\n

Describing the moment it arrived, she told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: “It was absolutely incredible. They are just the most amazing things, they look almost like dragon eggs.” <\/p>\n

She continued: “At that point I thought, well I’ve always had this fascination with large birds and it’s always been a dream of mine to own one.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve sort of got myself into this situation now, so what’s the harm in trying?”<\/p>\n

\"RhiRhi Evans<\/p>\n

Rhi Evans bought zoo-grade equipment to hatch and rear Jonathan the emu<\/p>\n

Ms Evans purchased zoo-grade equipment and repurposed the stables on her land in preparation.<\/p>\n

Throughout the two-month incubation process she had to carefully turn the egg several times a day.<\/p>\n

But she watched the emu’s due date come and go, and conceded it was not meant to be.<\/p>\n

“I went to turn the incubator off, take the egg out and dispose of it, when I heard cheeping and whistling from inside the egg,” she said.<\/p>\n

When it hatched, Ms Evans said it was like “all my childhood dreams had finally come true and reached this pinnacle moment”.<\/p>\n

“It was incredible and fascinating to watch. It was like I was living that scene in Jurassic Park where the velociraptors are hatching,” she said. <\/p>\n

\"RhiRhi Evans<\/p>\n

Rhi Evans belatedly found out Jonathan was female<\/p>\n

“I remember thinking how is this tiny chick going to turn into some majestic, six-foot monstrosity. I just couldn’t believe it, but here we are today.”<\/p>\n

She named the chick Jonathan before discovering she was female. <\/p>\n

Three years later, the six-foot bird now lives with her at home, roaming the fields and cosying up under a heat lamp.<\/p>\n

While Jonathan is now an integral part of her life, Ms Evans warns rearing an emu is not a decision to be taken lightly.<\/p>\n

“They require a huge amount of commitment, their life span is 35-40 years so you’ve got to be in it for the long haul,” she said. <\/p>\n

Helen Goldman, from West Country Emu Services, agreed the birds were not “pets for a casual keeper”, and urged potential owners to ensure they were equipped.<\/p>\n

“They’re large, powerful animals that need plenty of space, as they can run up to 30mph. Their food is a specialist ratite diet, which can be costly, and they also need a minimum of six-foot fencing,” she said.<\/p>\n

“These are wonderful, intelligent birds, but they deserve homes that truly meet their needs.”<\/p>\n

\"RhiRhi Evans<\/p>\n

Rhi Evans is now looking for a mate for Jonathan <\/p>\n

Ms Evans is now considering finding Jonathan a mate, but will not be turning to eBay again.<\/p>\n

“I leave my phone in a separate room now because I dread to think what will appear on my email confirmation the next day. I definitely do not recommend late night shopping on eBay,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bea SwallowWest of England BBC Rhi Evans bought the fertilised emu egg during a late-night shopping spree A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-259424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}