You may have heard about that poor ostrich sprinting down Federal Highway yesterday afternoon, after a video of it posted on Instagram went viral. While it was funny at first (it’s an ostrich on a highway!), netizens quickly became concerned: where did the ostrich come from? Why was it on the highway? And most importantly, will it be okay?
Good news: the ostrich is okay and was rescued unharmed at around 4.15pm yesterday.
Plot twist: the ostrich is called Chickaboo who apparently has turkeys and a Husky for friends. She’s also ‘quite the celebrity’, according to The Star who quoted her owner, Darren Chow. The daily reported that Darren’s been working with animals for over 20 years and raised Chickaboo since she was a chick. The six-month-old ostrich has appeared at kids’ carnivals and events, including last month’s KL Picnic Festival. So yes, she was famous even before she became Federal Highway’s ‘runaway ostrich’.
Here’s what happened yesterday: Darren was transporting Chickaboo in his Toyota Hilux to Ostrich Wonderlands in Semenyih, where the growing bird would have a new place to stay with more room to run around. During the journey, Chickaboo jumped out of the open window and dashed towards the highway at around 3pm. By 4.15pm, the ostrich was rescued.
And that's the case of the runaway ostrich solved. What a day.