A ROGUE emu was arrested by police on the weekend.

It was caught and handcuffed by officers after it was seen running into highway traffic in Victoria.

A police officer cuffed the startled bird’s legs on Saturday night after it was tackled as it tried to run into traffic on the Princes Highway, at Newborough, about an hour and 40 minutes from Melbourne.

Despite a vet being on scene, police say the bird died “due to what it believed to be a stress from the incident”.

The bird was “crash-tackled” as it ran towards the traffic and locals even tried to round up the emu but were unsuccessful.

Emu’s can run at speeds of 48km/h so police tried to chase it in the police car.

A plucky police officer then tackled the tiring bird and slapped cuffs on its legs so it wouldn’t kick out. The officer suffered from bruises and cuts.

Wild day on I-10 west of Phoenix. Emu on the loose!! pic.twitter.com/2h7ZVpgxa4 — Quentin Mehr, PIO (@dps_pio_mehr) October 21, 2016

This is not the first time there has been a runaway emu. Last July, the flightless bird caused traffic woes in central Queensland after it decided to do a dash down a highway.

In October, another emu was seen running on a busy highway in the US state of Arizona.