Insurer pays $2,000 claim after emu eats diamond earrings

A baby emu with sparkling taste is at the heart of an Australian bird shelter worker’s $2,000 insurance claim.

As the story goes, Eddie the Emu in September pecked the Brisbane Valley woman’s diamond earrings straight off her ears and swallowed them whole — as the wild birds are known to eat anything. An X-ray last week revealed the whereabouts of one of the earrings, along with some other worthless stones, pottery pieces and a coin, according to media reports.

“Where the other one is is anyone’s guess," said Mel Pope, who runs the Kobble Bird Shelter in the Brisbane Valley and recently collected on her insurance claim, according to media reports.

The insurer agreed to pay the claim after seeing an X-ray showing one of the earrings in Eddie's stomach, according to media reports. Ms. Pope, meanwhile, refused to OK a surgery to remove the diamond.