An Australian man who filmed himself riding an emu to work and posted the video online could be charged with animal cruelty offences.

The Queensland resident, named locally as Jack McMillan, can be seen clutching the throat of an emu he calls ‘Betsy’ before he begins to ride, shouting ‘righto girl let’s go, off to work we go!’

Introducing the strange set-up Mr McMillan says in the video: ‘What most overseas people get confused about Australia is they think we ride kangaroos to work but in actual fact we ride emus.’

Biosecurity Queensland says it received the footage from the RSPCA and is assessing what action to take next under the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001.




Mr McMillan later defended the video in a Facebook post saying: ‘So it turns out someone thought my video of the emu was that good they thought (sic) they should let the coppas no (sic).

‘Just to clear up if it wasn’t for me that emu would of being (sic) dead right now as it was tangled up in a barb wire fence and I cut it out and made a video.’

Mr McMillan’s controversial video is not the only one that has attracted international attention from animal rights groups. His Facebook account apparently revealed more bizarre acts, including using a live calf and a dead pig in exercise regimes.

RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty explained: ‘In one video he was using a calf on top of his leg to do leg stretching exercises. In another he used a dead pig like a weight.’