Nothing, An Escaped Ostrich Running Loose In South Korean City

The commuters in South Korea’s Seongnam city were shocked when they spotted an ostrich running loose amidst the traffic. The ostrich, named Tadori, was seen on the road at 9.30 am. After almost an hour, the bird was captured and sent back to the ecological park. According to the Korea Herald, Tadori escaped from the local ecological park by squeezing through a narrow gap between the park’s fences. Reportedly, the bird had been displaying signs of stress and aggression ever since its mate Tasuni died last month. The pair had been kept together in the nature experience farm ever since they were chicks.

The bird was captured at 10.25 am near a storage building in Sangdaewon-dong in Seongnam. Fortunately, no one was injured and the bird only sustained light bruises on its legs. The ostrich is the largest and heaviest living bird on Earth. It is known for its powerful strides. The flightless birds can run at speeds of 30–43 mph.

Ostriches require a lot of space to stretch up and run, which is why they are not kept as pets. Animal rights activists have long argued that wild animals like ostriches should not be held captive in zoos or animal parks.

This is not the first time that an ostrich escaped its enclosure and ventured into the city. Back in January 2021, an ostrich escaped a private zoo in Karachi, Pakistan. The bird was seen running on the roads. The bird was captured and returned to its enclosure.

Commenting on it, an X user wrote, “This video makes me so emotional, ban every zoo and send them to their natural habitat. My heart aches watching him running away for his life on the road as all he wants is freedom."

Back in 2016, a video from the Cape Argus Tour in South Africa, that showed an ostrich chasing cyclists on a long stretch of deserted road, went viral. The cyclist Oleksiy Mishchenko was taking part in a cycling event when saw his fellow cyclists being chased by the wild bird. Mishchenko shared this video on YouTube where it got over 26 million views.

In the video description, Oleksiy wrote, “The road by the ocean side was quiet and a lille deserted. Suddenly, I spotted a white ostrich on my left, then this beast jumped on the road from the right and started chasing my friends! It was a little scary at first, but then I thought I gonna fell of my bike from laughter. The ostrich didn’t have any problem to keep up at 50km/h and apparently they do 70km/h with no sweat. Luckily the creature decided to leave us alone, as we were running out of road."