WHILE the phrase ‘no luck catching them swans’ might be a refrain police officers are all too familiar with since the release of the hit comedy Hot Fuzz in 2007, life policing Cornwall’s more rural areas can sometimes resemble Sandford, the fictional village in the film.

For Bodmin Police’s neighbourhood policing team, it wasn’t a swan they found themselves catching, but an escaped Rhea, a flightless bird which are distantly related to the African Ostrich.

A spokesperson for Bodmin Police said: “No luck catching them swans then? We didn’t catch any swans, but we did manage to catch a Rhea today that was loose. The Rhea was safely detained and returned to its owner. Policing in Cornwall is certainly different!”