A pet emu escaped Sunday morning and took a stroll down Rockdale Road in Penn Township. It was later returned to its owner.

PENN TWP — Residents on Rockdale Road were a little “e-mused” Sunday morning.

Instead of encountering the occasional speed walker or jogger, what they saw was a full-grown emu.

The strange sight opened some eyes but apparently ruffled no feathers in the neighborhood.

And it turned out the flightless Australian fowl likes Italian bread.

That’s what one homeowner fed it to keep it occupied until the owners came and got it, said Penn Township Patrolman Jack Ripper.

“It almost went through an entire loaf of Italian bread,” Ripper said of the emu.

The 911 center got its first alert about the wayward bird just before 9 a.m. Jessica Wise, who was house sitting in the 900 block of Rockdale Road, reported the call as: “An ostrich-type bird running loose on the road.”

The ostrich is the largest bird in the world. The emu is a close second.

Wise said a barking dog awoke her, and she discovered a big bird in the road.

She said a neighbor’s young son thought it was a big turkey.

Ripper was glad he was on duty.

“I’ve never been around an emu before,” he said. “I wanted to see it for myself.”

By the time he got there, Wise was tossing slices to it.

The bird, who earlier had romped through the yards of homes, seemed hungry and kept eating the bread. Later, someone brought a toy duck out. The bird liked the duck.

“It started playing with the toy, ” Ripper said of the emu.

While authorities tracked down the owners, who live about one-half mile away on Rockdale Road, Ripper kept the bird in custody, sort of.

“It pretty much stayed there until the owners came,” he said.

They wrapped a leash around the bird and hauled it away in the bed of a pickup truck, taking it back to their home where they have other emus.

“Case closed,” Ripper said.