



Giant South American bird that can disembowel a human with a single blow and run at speeds of 40mph loose in the English countryside

Rhea escaped from home in Brent Pelham, Hertfordshire, four weeks ago



It was spotted on Thursday in a rape field at Nuthampstead, five miles away

And on Sunday the bird was sighted in a field at Anstey, two miles away



Cyclists Tim Bradshaw and Ray Murdoch both took photographs of bird



Mr Murdoch, 66, a retired teacher, said it looked at him and trotted away

Rheas, which are flightless, have six-inch claws that can deliver fatal blow

Native South American birds are increasingly popular as pets in Britain

Owner Jo Clarke says she doesn't know how to recapture it as it's so fast



An ostrich-sized bird that is capable of disembowelling a human with its claws has been spotted on the loose in the English countryside.

The South American rhea, which stands six feet tall and can run at 40mph, has been on the run since it fled its home in Hertfordshire a month ago.

The giant flightless bird, which has six-inch claws and could kill with a single blow, was photographed first by cyclist Ray Murdoch, north east of Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

Harmless? The bird was spotted several times roaming the countryside, including in this rape seed field Really hard to spot: The six-foot bird has been on the run for a month. They are also incredibly hard to catch because of their fast speeds Where am I? Cyclist Tim Bradshaw took these pictures with his camera after seeing the bird at the weekend Runaway rhea's route: Bird escaped from Brent Pelham and has since visited Brent Pelham and Anstey

Mr Murdoch, a retired geography teacher, saw the runaway bird near the village of Nuthampstead on Thursday.

He said: 'In the distance I saw what appeared to be a large bird, and the closer I got the more perplexed I got.

'Initially, I thought it was a crane, but as I got closer, I realised it wasn't a crane, and I wondered if it was an emu.

'The bird was trotting along just a couple of metres off the road in the edge of a field, and as I got closer it kept looking over its shoulder at me.



'I think the rhea was as amazed to see a cyclist as I was to see a rhea.'

By the time Mr Murdoch had pulled out his phone to take a picture, the bird had trotted 40 or 50 metres into the field.

He said: 'You can see the bird standing in a couple of the shots, in the others it was grubbing around in the rape field for food, or perhaps it was trying to bury its head in the sand.

Big bird: The runaway rhea was also photographed near Brent Pelham on Thursday by cyclist Ray Murdoch

Mr Murdoch took these two pictures with his mobile phone after the bird trotted off into a field of oil seed rape



'It was about six feet high with its head up.'

On Sunday, civil engineer Tim Bradshaw, 37, saw the bird in a field near the village of Anstey where he lives.

He said: 'We had heard it was living in the woods near our house so I got my camera - it seemed more scared of me than I was of it.



Jo Clarke, the bird's owner, who said she keeps four rheas on her land at Brent Pelham as they are good at eating weeds, said: 'The bird escaped after being spooked by the local hunt.'

But she said she had no idea how to recapture it as rheas can run at 40mph, Anglia news reported.

Di Pyper, master of the Puckeridge Hunt which has its hunt kennels at Brent Pelham, told MailOnline that members of the hunt had seen the rhea trotting away when they hunted a trail through a field near the bird's home.

She said: 'We weren't very near it and the hounds didn't go anywhere near it but some people told me they'd seen what they thought was an ostrich trotting through a field.

'I saw the bird the next day when it came past my house and I told the owner, as did several other people who sighted it, but I'm not sure anything was done.'

Giles Cooper, Hertfordshire police spokesman, said three sightings had been reported to police, the most recent of which was Anstey on Sunday.

The rhea's owner said it was spooked by the hunt, but Puckeridge hunt master Di Pyper said the hounds didn't go near its field

He said capturing the animal was the owner's responsibility but said the police would help if it posed a danger to the public.



A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said it was urging anyone who spots the bird to get in contact with them, while a bird expert warned the public to keep away.

He said: 'They look nice but they are so strong it's unbelievable. They aren't listed as a dangerous animal but can kill you with one strike of their feet because their claws are six inches long.

'They will also go for your eyes with their beak.'

