IL Firefighters Rescue Ostrich Injured in 15-Foot Fall

Rescue crews captured a runaway ostrich Monday evening outside of O’Fallon after an almost six-hour effort.

Amy Sperry, a neighbor, said her children saw the ostrich running through a soybean field off O’Fallon-Troy Road just before 1:30 p.m. on Monday. Her husband, James, followed the bird and saw it fall down a small ravine into a nearby creek.

In a video captured by James Sperry, the ostrich can be seen getting stuck in vines near the field before its fall. According to O’Fallon Fire Chief Brad White, the 300-pound bird fell about 15 feet down.

The bird had a long laceration down its neck and had lost “a good amount” of blood, White said. Veterinarian David Lashley of Swansea came to assist with the rescue, bringing tranquilizers to sedate the bird before it could be rescued. The drugs took about 40 minutes to take effect.

Firefighters called St. Clair County Special Emergency Services because the agency has special equipment to help with high-angle or sloped rescues, Capt. Tim Claxton said.

White said that when the bird was sedated, its feet had to be tied because the birds have a kicking force of about 1,000 pounds of pressure. Four rescue crew members went down into the ravine to strap the bird to a board and others used a pulley system to hoist it out.

Upon its rescue, the bird was treated by Lashley and returned to its owners, who White said live down the street on Troy-Scott Road and have “about a dozen or so” other ostriches. The birds are raised for meat for people who have Lyme disease and cannot consume red meat, he said.

Asked whether he had been involved in a rescue like this one before, Claxton said: “We’ve had to get a goat out of a muddy lake before. Things like this happen once in awhile, but I’ve never seen an ostrich before.”

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