Ostrich escapes from South Korean zoo, runs wild through traffic

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The bird was the word for South Korean commuters who were stalled by an hour-long ostrich chase.

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The four-year-old ostrich escaped from a zoo in Seongnam, South Korea, on Tuesday and wound up on the city’s streets before encountering heavy traffic, People reported, per Reuters.

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Ostriches are the fastest birds on land, according to the Smithsonian. Tadori the ostrich put that on display, leading local authorities on a wild and wacky chase.

Onlookers captured footage of the flightless bird as it dodged cars and ran across live lanes of traffic. In one clip on Instagram, Tadori zigzags across a busy road with more than five lanes of traffic. The bird appears to run into a vehicle at one point before sprinting away on the road.

Tadori fled from a zoo identified as Bug City. Zoo officials contacted firefighters and police to help wrangle the bird.

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According to Reuters, the chase lasted more than an hour before Tadori was captured with a net at a parking lot less than 4 km from the zoo.

The ostrich wasn’t seriously injured and was returned to the zoo in stable condition, zoo owner Choi Yun-joo told Reuters.

The owner said the ostrich’s female friend, Tasooni, died about a month ago.

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