Steven Strasburg is missing his emus. Two of them to be exact.

WASHINGTON – When two of Steven Strasburg’s emus went missing, it was time to bring in the big guns.

But animal control didn’t quite know what to make of his name – no, he is not the pitcher for the Nationals – or the fact that he was missing exotic birds.

“When I did call animal control they seemed very surprised,” he said in an email. “I think one of the big reasons they didn’t ask about my name was that they were still processing the word ’emu’.”

“I’m willing to bet that after we hung up, they pulled up images of what an emu looks like.”

The mild-mannered Arlington man originally got Bertha and Ernie through Craigslist to kill the foxes that were killing the chickens he bought to kill the stinkbugs.

“They actually have a zero-tolerance policy for foxes,” he said.

Strasburg and his wife also like their eggs.

Last week, the satellite engineer was firing small rockets as part of an experiment. He said the large birds didn’t seem distressed by the sound, so something else must have spooked them.

“I’m still not sure how the emus got out,” he said in the email.

If you see the emus, give Strasburg a call at 703-887-1799 or contact him through his Craigslist ad.

WTOP’s Del Walters contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

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