Emu On The Loose - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

A huge Australian bird stopped traffic for 20 minutes on busy Highway A1A in Cape Canaveral, Florida Wednesday morning.

A camera in a Brevard County Sheriff's patrol car captured the scene at about 7:30 a.m. as the 5-foot tall emu, named Taco, high-stepped in and out of morning rush-hour traffic.

At one point, the bird aggressively approached a deputy on a motorcycle and the officer backed up.

The bird also went after a man on a scooter.

Deputies tried to surround the bird with patrol cars and shoo it off the road, but that didn't work.

"It was a safety problem at that point," said sheriff's spokesman Alex Herrera. "Traffic moves at 45 mph, and a bird of that size would have made quite an impact."

Taco's owner showed up and caught him by putting a towel over his head.

The bird lives in a suburban backyard about two blocks from the highway.