Biggie and Kimmie on the run: The story of Orange County emus who escaped their cage
People feared the worst when Biggie and Kimmie went on the run last week in Orange County.
The teenage emus — named for the once more notorious couple, rappers Biggie Smalls and Lil’ Kim — discovered a hole Wednesday afternoon in their cage off Alexander Drive and escaped into the woods just north of Interstate 40 in Chapel Hill.
“That was my nightmare, to see them get out and have Animal Control and everyone else involved,” owner Angela Crabtree told The News & Observer on Friday.
As the news spread via social media, the situation soon was being compared to the fate of another emu named Eno, who roamed a wooded area south of I-40 near Eubanks Road for months. Eno’s story inspired a community before he died in September 2019, gaining him thousands of Twitter and Facebook followers, a local ad campaign, and songs and school lesson plans.
No one ever came forward to claim the ill-fated bird.
Last week, Crabtree attempted to round up her pair after their escape. Biggie was receptive, she said, but Kimmie urged him to keep going — and he follows her everywhere.
“She’s the bad one. If it comes to somebody listening, she’s the one that’s less likely to listen,” Crabtree said.
“He would be wanting to walk back with me when he first got loose, and then she’s like, ‘Come with me, you don’t want to go over there. You know they’re trying to lead you somewhere,’” Crabtree said. “I’m like, ‘Really, you brat?’”
As the pair ran off, Crabtree posted a plea for help on social media Wednesday afternoon: “If anyone sees these two A-holes, they belong to me,” she said.
Emus on the run
Someone called the cops, and three Orange County Animal Control officers also joined the hunt. They found Biggie and Kimmie near the heavily traveled intersection of Mt. Sinai Road and N.C. 86 a few hours after Crabtree made her NextDoor post.
The birds seemed comfortable around people, but no one could get too close, Animal Control Officer Marcus Gamez said. He watched as the two birds picked up and tossed around a small, orange ball that they found in someone’s driveway.
“They were just laid-back and just chilling, which was very good, because they were at a busy intersection,” he said. “A lot of people were stopping at the same time. We just had to make sure to keep them away from that intersection, so that traffic could go on.”
Another officer inched toward Kimmie, petting her, and then holding her. They wrapped her with orange, plastic landscape netting and put a loose pillowcase over her head to keep her calm as they loaded her into the trailer.
“Once it (the bird) was down, it wasn’t going anywhere, so it didn’t really fight,” Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Rebecca Bassitt said. “But once they pulled it up, they had to prepare, because (emus have) very strong kicks and their talons are extremely dangerous.”
They left a door open so Biggie could join Kimmie in the trailer, but he didn’t take the bait. They tried not to spook him, but Biggie took off, running a couple hundred yards across the road “into a thick wooded area,” Gamez said.
“It kind of used that to its advantage,” he said. The officers, weighing the effect of stress and heat, called off the chase, and delivered Kimmie to the Orange County Animal Services shelter on Eubanks Road to wait for her owner.
Neighbors tracked Biggie’s movements over text, phone and social media, sending updates to Crabtree and leaving out corn and other snacks for the bird to eat.
“I don’t know how we would have found them if everyone hadn’t messaged us,” Crabtree said.
A state senator gets involved
State Sen. Graig Meyer said he was at the Chelsea-Wrexham game in Chapel Hill on Wednesday when a neighbor texted him to say the officers were nearby trying to catch the birds. The next morning, Meyer got another text that said Biggie was heading for his yard.
Meyer went outside to check on the bird, posting photos of it on Twitter while the neighbor contacted its owner, he said.
“It was quite funny watching our cats looking at them through the windows,” Meyer said Friday. “I’m pretty sure they’d never seen a 5-foot bird before.”
But Biggie moved on. Around noon Thursday, Crabtree got a message he had been spotted in the Dunhill subdivision off Mt. Sinai Road. She jumped in her SUV and headed out, spotting Biggie at the entrance to the neighborhood.
As soon as the emu heard her voice, he started moving toward her, Crabtree said. She tried to walk him home, but he wasn’t budging, so they wrestled him to the ground, trussing his legs under him “like a Thanksgiving turkey,” and wrapped him in a moving blanket.
His talons tore her pants in three places as they loaded him into the SUV for the short drive home, Crabtree said.
“He was not a fan,” she said.
Kimmie joined Biggie later that afternoon in their newly reinforced cage, which was built by a previous owner to house a tiger and monkeys, Crabtree said.
Biggie and Kimmie back home
On Friday, the pair looked curiously toward the cage door as they relaxed in the thick, cool underbrush under shade trees. Crabtree filled their bucket with fresh water, and Kimmie came over to take several sips. Biggie watched from a safe distance.
“He’s super mad. He got tied up,” Crabtree said.
Eventually, Biggie gave in, edging close to the fence but keeping the bucket between himself and the door. He snatched an apple through the fence from an outstretched hand, and it fell into the water.
For a moment, he forgot his fear, bending to retrieve the fruit before moving away again.
“A lot of people will raise them and not spend that much time with them, so they will stay feral,” Crabtree said. “We’ve had them since they were itty-bitty babies, ready to leave their mom, and they live in our backyard, right off the back of our house, so I see them every day, constantly interacting with them, spending time with them, handling them a lot.”
The pair has gotten out before, but always stayed near their cage, Crabtree said. She’s going to expand it in the future, and they have lots of shiny things to play with and an old kid’s piano on which they love to peck. Sometimes, they take a dip in the kiddie pool.
She’s gotten a lot of questions and requests from people to come see them now that they are home, Crabtree said.
“I’m glad it ended well,” she said.
This story was originally published July 23, 2023 at 12:34 PM.
