A MUTILATED bird’s leg found at an abandoned airfield belongs to a baby ostrich, according to an expert.
The three-foot long skeletal remains were discovered by a dog walker at Tealing aerodrome on Tuesday.
Skin had been stripped from the severed limb, which has a clawed foot bigger than a human hand.
The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was baffled by the find, with both the chief superintendent and rescue centre manager unable to identify the bird.
But an education coordinator based at Camperdown Wildlife Centre is convinced the carcass is a young ostrich.
Bradly Yule, who has worked at the park in Dundee for 30 years, said: “It’s a Ratite. It’s part of a family of flightless birds which includes the ostrich, rhea or emu.
“I think it’s more likely to be an ostrich. The blackness on the joint to me would indicate black feathering, which would again indicate that it would be an ostrich, because rheas are grey.
“By the size of it, I don’t think particularly old probably about three or four months.”
Ostriches are native to Africa but have been bred throughout the world.
Mr Yule said: “There are people who have tried to farm ostriches for meat production and there’s no regulation on that, but it’s not illegal.
“Some people might have tried to rear ostriches nearby, I don’t know. There are some in the area. And they get about. They can run very fast when they get moving.
“But it’s not a particularly common thing to see in our countryside.”
He added: “We don’t keep ostriches at Camperdown Park, so it’s definitely not one of ours.”
Sean Donaldson (39) made the discovery while walking his dog at the former airfield at Tealing.
He believes the beast could have been mauled by a bigger animal but it is unclear how it met its untimely death.
Mr Donaldson said: “It looks like the bird has been moved around by whatever animal was eating it. It would need to be a big animal too.”
* The ostrich theory has already been questioned by other animal experts. For the latest, see Friday’s Courier
pswindon@thecourier.co.uk