A rogue emu was spotted pounding the streets of Tin Shui Wai on Saturday morning, shocking residents and rapidly going viral on social media.

Emus are normally found in the Australian outback, rather than Hong Kong public housing estates, but video widely shared online showed one of the flightless birds exploring different parts of the town in the northern New Territories.

Aside from the estate, the emu was spotted running up and down busy roads, at one point forcing a lorry driver to slam on the breaks to avoid a collision.

After calls from people who saw the runaway at the junction of Tin Sau Road and Tin Ying Road, inspectors from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals moved in.

They were joined in the search by police officers and officials from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

About three hours later, the emu found its way into the nearby wetlands park, where it was caught, uninjured, and handed over to the AFCD for safekeeping.

Officials say they've so far been unable to contact the farm the emu came from.