A giant bird caused a flap after it went on a seven-hour rampage through a quiet village.
Charlie - who stands at 6ft tall when fully upright - destroyed dozens of gardens and attacked people after he escaped from a poultry farm.
The two year-old South American rhea -a member of the ostrich family - lost his bid for freedom after he was cornered in a garden and captured, three miles from his home.
Charlie's owner Sharon Gould, 38, who runs the poultry farm where Charlie, who is related to the ostrich, lived said: 'We think he got spooked by a dog and jumped out of his pen and made off across the fields.
'When we realised he was gone my husband and I tried to follow his footprints through the snow.
'It eventually led to a ford which he waded across. The water was about two and a half feet high because of the snow but somehow he made it to the other side.'
Mrs Gould said she drove to the nearest village and began asking anyone if they saw the missing bird.
'They looked at me like I was a bit mad. But then I heard he'd caused quite a commotion in people's back gardens and was being treated at the vets,' she said.
Charlie's adventure began at 2.30pm on Wednesday after he scaled a 3ft fence at Gouldise Poultry farm in Brickyard Lane, Drakes Broughton, Worcestershire.
He made his way south across fields and hedges until he reached the village of Pershore.
He leapt over people's fences and gardens for seven hours until he was captured by a dozen villagers armed with blankets and sticks at 9.30pm.
They managed to bundle the giant bird up and take him to a nearby vets where he was treated for a dislocated wing.
Vet Roger Martin bore the brunt of Charlie's wrath after the giant bird pecked him hard on the ear.
Dr Martin said: 'We'd tried to subdue the bird as gently as we could by putting blankets round his legs to stop him kicking out.
'We were at the vet's entrance when he wriggled his neck out and went for me. He got me on the ear but luckily didn't do any permanent damage.'
Roger's wife Wendy also helped in the chase. She said: 'We were trying to catch it but it was running around people's gardens jumping over fences and hedges like they were nothing.
'I had the idea of putting it in a wheelie bin but it kicked me. Eventually a man helped me bring it under control. He was very brave.'
But it is not the first time a giant bird has bitten people as chat show host Michael Parkinson can testify after Rod Hull's pet Emu famously attacked him on live television.
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