Internet sensation Emmanuel the Emu left fighting for his life after deadly avian flu outbreak

The farm he lives on was struck by a 'massive tragedy'

Internet sensation Emmanuel the Emu is fighting for his life after his farm was hit by an aggressive bout of deadly avian flu.

Emmanuel lives at Knuckle Bump Farms in south Florida and is cared for by Taylor Blake. The pair shot to fame earlier this year for their TikTok videos, which would often see the cheeky emu interrupt Blake whilst she was talking to the camera. Taylor has racked up 2.4 million followers on TikTok thanks in no small part to Emmanuel’s antics.

@knucklebumpfarms Animals Against Education episode who knows what, enjoy ? #emmanuel #emmanueldontdoit #emmanueltheemu #princessthedeer #animalsagainsteducation ♬ original sound - Knuckle Bump Farms

But she took to Twitter over the weekend to share the news that a "massive tragedy" had struck the farm. In a lengthy thread detailing what had happened, the animal-lover revealed to her 896,000 followers that they had "lost every single chicken and duck" on the farm and "all of our geese" because of an avian flu outbreak. Bird flu is a highly contagious disease that spreads among birds, and in rare cases it can affect humans. Along with the hundreds of deaths, Emmanuel was also later struck down by the disease, with Blake "running on about four hours sleep in four days" to care for the emu. https://twitter.com/hiitaylorblake/status/1581434514164789249