Runaway turned into sausage

A gamekeeper in Britain shot dead a runaway rhea bird this week because of fears that it could cause a car accident.

The flightless 1.8m South American bird, similar to an ostrich, escaped from an enclosure near a golf course in Royston, Hertfordshire.

"Someone had to shoot it ... it was a traffic hazard," said Mike Rodgers, the golf club's captain.

The bird, which had been roaming the golf course for a month, wandered into the sights of Stuart Howe's rifle in a nearby field. He killed it with a single shot to the head from 60m.

Howe insisted that the bird had not suffered. He said the meat would be made into gourmet sausages.

The rhea was well known in the area and nicknamed Chris Rhea, after the singer Chris Rea.

Howe, who manages deer and lives in the nearby village of Hare Street, said: "I suppose some people might say it is a shame the rhea is dead, but it would be terrible if it caused someone to die in a car crash.

"I saw the rhea near the roadside at one point and it could easily have caused a car to swerve and hit a tree."