QUOTE(Ocoee @ Aug 11 2005, 10:49 AM)
There is actually a farm a few miles from me where they raise emus! They are alot taller than you would think, and they really do look like raptors from Jurassic Park. I don't know why Southerners are so attracted to that sort of thing - I knew a woman once who thought she was going to get rich raising Ostriches, too. Um - it didn't work out, lol.

She kept her day job, lol.
4 or 5 years ago, a ways down the road from us, there was a family who were raising ostriches. It didn't appear to be all that big of an operation, though, so I dunno if their intent was to eventually go commercial, or just raise a few for themselves and perhaps friends and/or other family members (pit-roasted Thanksgiving
turkey - or else "You'll never guess what we're givin' ya for Christmas this year!"

). Anyway, one day we were drivin' by the place and noticed all them Texas hummin'birds was gone. Maybe they acquired a bigger ranch somplace, or else were just done with `em. All I know is we never saw those big ol' birdies there again. Kinda sad, too, `cause we do miss seein' the feathery dinos (beat the usual geese and ducks). - I guess they can be a bit perilous to raise all right. North of us, along the I-5, up in Winston, there is a safari park called "Wildlife Safari", which features a
walking safari through various sections. Visitors participating in these "walkabouts" are always cautioned the most potentially dangerous creatures there are the ostriches.