A hailstorm struck a zoo in Missouri Tuesday, killing an emu, a flightless bird native to Australia.
The Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, 160 miles southeast of Kansas City, said on Facebook that the 21-year-old female emu died from injuries.
Meanwhile, a male rhea needed veterinary care.
The zoo did not say how badly the rhea, a flightless bird native to South America, was injured. No guests, staff or other zoo animals were hurt in the storm, zoo officials said.
The Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management said on Facebook that the hailstones varied from being the size of baseballs to half the size of a golf ball and that winds were gusting up to 60 mph.
Zoo officials told Springfield’s KYTV that many roofs at the animal enclosure were damaged in the morning storm, and the facility is closed Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Springfield, over 10,000 customers were left without power and cars across the area were damaged, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
Melissa Blanchard, a Wisconsin resident who got caught driving when the storm hit, told the Springfield Daily Citizen that the hail cracked the windshield, shattered the back window and busted the cover off a side mirror of her in-laws’ car.
