Marvin Hajos placed a desperate call to 911 saying he was bleeding to death after he was attacked by his pet cassowary.
"Can you send an ambulance? I'm bleeding to death."
What prompted such a desperate call to 911? It was a vicious physical attack by a cassowary, which is said to be the most dangerous bird in the world.
Marvin Hajos, 75, of Gainesville, Florida, was keeping a cassowary as a pet on his farm when he was attacked by the flightless bird know for its dagger-like claws.
Somehow, Hajos managed to place a call to his friend in addition to 911.
"He sounded really frantic on the phone," the friend told a dispatcher in his own emergency call. "All he said was, 'Send an ambulance. Send an ambulance. Send an ambulance.'"
But it was too late — Hajos died of his injuries.
Zookeeper Debbie Mogensen at the Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia knows a thing or two about working with cassowaries.
"The main thing you worry about is their feet, their most deadly weapon," she told Inside Edition.
Cassowaries don't bite; instead they use their claws, which can grow up to 4 inches long.
"It's more like running at you and kicking you and jumping at you with with those feet," said Mogensen . "Like a velociraptor, they're going shred you pretty quick."
Wildlife expert Jarod Miller said that likely one small mistake killed Hajos.
"It's a situation where a little slip-up like a trip and fall definitely gave that large bird an advantage," Miller said.
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