Emu: It's What's for Dinner (and More)

Summer interns tend to get lots of offbeat assignments. Missoulian interns Mary Hayes, a photographer, and Murphy Woodhouse, a reporter, made the most of their chance to cover last week's national conference of the American Emu Association. Mary's photo of would-be emu-shell artist Julie Brown accompanied Murphy's story, which detailed the emu's many uses, ranging from food to leather to hand lotion. They're gentle critters, too. “Most of my emus will come up to me and lay their heads on my chest,” a emu rancher told Murphy. “They're like big dogs.”