Search under way for missing rhea Barry White

Barry White has been missing from East Kirkby since Saturday

The owner of a missing rhea called Barry White says there have been no sightings of the bird despite help from villagers and a drone search team.

Andrew Collington, of East Kirkby, near Horncastle, Lincolnshire, said the 6ft white rhea was spooked by a hunt that went past his house on Saturday.

Despite spending four days wandering around the fields that surround his home and checking behind fences of nearby houses, Mr Collington, 75, said there had been no sighting of Barry since then.

He said it felt like Barry White had "been abducted by aliens" as not even a feather had been found.

"On Saturday, he was wandering around outside with our other rhea, who is grey and called Betty T, as they like to travel in pairs, when a large hunting group went past, complete with horses and dogs," Mr Collington said.

Betty T and Barry White usually went around together as a pair

"They went ballistic and ran off, and although we managed to find Betty, there was no trace of Barry and we have not been able to find him since, despite going out every day around the village and in the fields to try to find him.

"We've been overwhelmed by the support from people in the village who have spent time driving around looking for him, and we've even had people come up to us in the street asking if he's been found, but sadly there are no updates."

Drone to Home, a charity which conducts searches, has also helped look for Barry, but it was unable to detect any thermal images of him.

Mr Collington bought the rheas last year to help keep foxes away from their pet chickens.

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