Someone Bought An Emu Egg Off eBay And It Hatched

There is not a website filled with more wonder than eBay (maybe Craigslist, but that’s another topic altogether). You can buy pretty much anything on there, so it should come to no surprise that one woman from the UK found a nice little green egg that happened to come from an emu bird.

Now, don’t be too upset, she knew what she was buying and she planned on keeping the birdie, appropriately named Kevin, that she incubated and uploaded videos of it hatching. What was disheartening in her endeavor was that, days later, members of the RSPCA came to her door.

Mom of three Charlotte Harrison bought the emu egg for some $34 and incubated it for 45 days, with it successfully hatching on January 5. The bird imprinted on her and followed her around her three-bedroom house in Bordon, Hampshire. You could say she became its mommy figure.

“Having coaxed him through the birth, I feel so protective of Kevin. I think it’s because I nurtured him through incubation to hatching and the process has similarities to pregnancy,” she told a local newspaper. “The feeling’s mutual, he dotes on me and follows me around the house as though I’m his mother.”

But two weeks later, a couple of RSPCA members visited her home and reported her to authorities. Charlotte was told her home is not an appropriate size for raising the exotic bird, which can grow up to 6 feet tall and weigh 140 pounds when mature. It was a sad day for the mom, but she knew it was the right thing to do.

The RSPCA is deeply concerned about the number of exotic animals that are kept in the UK. They say that people buy them without having a clue of what to expect and how difficult they are to raise. On a lighter note, they do advise folk who still want to keep an exotic animal as pet to do as thorough a research as they can about the animal’s needs and whether they are the right choice.

Then again, you could stick to cats and their blatant disrespect for personal space.