{"id":1248,"date":"2023-07-21T14:57:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T14:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2023-07-28T18:05:07","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T18:05:07","slug":"meeting-meemoo-the-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/21\/meeting-meemoo-the-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting MeeMoo the Emu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The McKinney Farm in Harriman, TN is a special place, but the McKinneys didn\u2019t realize one of their feathered residents would reach worldwide fame. The McKinney family cares for a wide variety of animals, including ducks, chickens, cows, alpacas, dogs, pheasants, guineas, goats, geese, and even a peacock. But the one who captured the hearts of Harriman, Roane County, and the world was an unassuming emu named MeeMoo.<\/p>\n\n\n

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MeeMoo lived happily on the McKinney\u2019s farm with his wife, MeeMee, until nearby logging frightened him on April 13, 2023. MeeMoo managed to escape over his 7 foot high fence and fled the farm. He headed toward downtown Harriman, where he led the Harriman Police Department on a 20 mile chase at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. With help from the community and law enforcement, the McKinneys were able to find MeeMoo. Owner Harry McKinney managed to put MeeMoo in his vehicle (with some help) and returned MeeMoo to his home at the McKinney\u2019s farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt first, when it happened, I was kinda embarrassed,\u201d Harry said. But his initial embarrassment faded as the story of an emu being chased by police spread from Harriman to across Tennessee, the US, and the world. \u201cIt\u2019s been in India, South Africa, Europe,\u201d Harry\u2019s wife, Dana McKinney, said. \u201cWe got a message that said Tokyo was all smiles,\u201d Harry said. MeeMoo has also taken Southeast Asia by storm, as well as the UK. \u201cWe went on the Daily Mail, BBC, we did Take a Break Magazine,\u201d Harry said. \u201cIt\u2019s literally impacted the whole world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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MeeMoo has made the news across the world, including the UK.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To the McKinney\u2019s surprise, MeeMoo also went viral in Australia. \u201cWe talked to people in Australia, and I thought, \u2018no one in Australia\u2019s gonna care because they have ostriches, and they have kangaroos, and emu,\u2019\u201d Harry said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018what about the story made it go viral in Australia?\u2019 They said, \u2018you fool, you put him in the back seat!\u2019 They said, \u2018we would have never done that in Australia!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked why MeeMoo\u2019s story captured the attention of the world, Dana said, \u201cI think it\u2019s people are looking for something happy. You know, something good. Because there\u2019s so much negative in the world right now.\u201d \u201cIt reminds people of innocent joy,\u201d Harry said. Harry also believes the emus\u2019 names boosted the story\u2019s popularity. Dana explained how they named MeeMoo and MeeMee \u201cBaby Face\u201d and \u201cLegs\u201d since a group of emus is called a \u201cmob.\u201d These names were too hard for the McKinneys\u2019 2 year old nephew to say, however, so he called the duo \u201cMeeMoo\u201d and \u201cMeeMee.\u201d The name stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The McKinneys are excited about the positive impact MeeMoo\u2019s story is having on people across the globe. A children\u2019s book titled \u201cMeeMoo the Emu: The True Story of an Emu on the Loose<\/span><\/a>\u201d has already being published, and the book was read to kids at the historic Harriman Public Library<\/span><\/a> by a police officer who responded to MeeMoo\u2019s infamous escape. A teacher at a private school in Minnesota is now using the MeeMoo book in the curriculum for her students, and orphanages in Kolkata, India, also plan to use the book. The McKinney\u2019s portion of book proceeds are donated to the Roane County Animal Shelter to help local animals needing homes. The McKinneys hope to continue to use MeeMoo\u2019s story to impact others in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe thing about the story\u2026is it\u2019s not my story\u2013it belongs to whoever reads it,\u201d Harry said. Harry immediately realized the \u201cstory affects everyone differently.\u201d \u201cMessages started pouring in,\u201d Harry recalled, \u201cand the messages said things like, my son just went to prison, I\u2019m in rehab for drugs and alcohol, I haven\u2019t smiled in two months, and I\u2019ve laughed solid for two days over the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou also have what\u2019s happened with MeeMoo on the biblical side,\u201d Harry said. The McKinneys have noticed similarities between MeeMoo\u2019s story and themes in the Bible, saying, \u201cthe Lord used an emu, and the Bible came to life in people\u2019s lives.\u201d \u201cThe story as it is,\u201d Harry said, recalling MeeMoo\u2019s escape, \u201cis a story where he gets scared, he runs aways, they chase him, and they reunite him with his father.\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s grace, there\u2019s unity, there\u2019s rules for [our] safety,\u201d he said. Harry added, \u201cwe left the ninety-nine to get the one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like anyone suddenly thrust into the international spotlight, MeeMoo\u2019s life is a little different than before. MeeMoo and MeeMee now receive lots of visitors from local organizations, including a kids camp, schools, and, of course, Roane Tourism. His usual day as a whole, however, is similar to before his famous escape. He starts each morning with breakfast, enjoys watching the other animals on the farm, and spends time with the McKinneys every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about MeeMoo and get your MeeMoo merch at https:\/\/meemooemu.com\/<\/span><\/a>, and be sure to follow MeeMoo\u2019s adventures on Facebook<\/span><\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n

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One of MeeMoo’s chicks who hatched after the infamous chase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The McKinney Farm in Harriman, TN is a special place, but the McKinneys didn\u2019t realize one of their feathered residents would reach worldwide fame. The McKinney family cares for a wide variety of animals, including ducks, chickens, cows, alpacas, dogs, pheasants, guineas, goats, geese, and even a peacock. But the one who captured the heartsRead More Meeting MeeMoo the Emu<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14],"tags":[40,54,67],"class_list":["post-1248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roane-county","category-roane-tourism","tag-harriman","tag-roane-county","tag-roane-tourism","without-featured-image"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/MeeMoo-and-MeeMee-Featured-Image-1024x682-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1251,"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions\/1251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roanetourism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}