Cassowaries are still being regularly struck and killed by vehicles around Mission Beach, and both locals and tourists in the north Queensland grey nomad hotspot are being urged to stop feeding the giant birds.
In the most recent incident earlier this month, an adult bird was found badly injured on Bingil Bay Road. Local animal rescue volunteers believe the cassowary had recently been fed by people – an offence carrying a $5,222 fine.
Mission Beach Wildcare’s Steve McGuiness told the Tropic Now publication that it was likely the cassowary had approached the road seeking a feed.
“A decision was made to euthanise after examination, as its injuries were severe,” he said. “Apparently it had plenty of bananas just prior, and many passers-by stated it was ‘their’ friendly cassowary.”
Mr McGuiness said that most cassowaries that are struck by a car are put down by wildlife authorities, due to the difficulty of rehabilitating the birds – even with an injury as little as a broken leg.
“I would suggest to those in the community that think they are doing the right thing by protecting cassowaries to think again,” he said. “These animals need to be left alone – there’s plenty of food for them in their natural environment.”
Tropic Now reports that Department of Environment and Science (DES) data indicates 45 cassowaries were hit by cars near Kuranda and Mission Beach over the two years to April last year.
Previous examinations of dead birds have found that many have times like chopped-up fruit in their stomachs, indicating that they had effectively been encouraged to come into urban areas when they had no reason to be there.
Director of the DES Northern Wildlife Operations, Lindsay Delzoppo, said at the time that feeding cassowaries in urban areas can habituate the birds and cause them to approach people in the hope of receiving food.
“This places cassowaries in danger by leaving them vulnerable to vehicle strikes and dog attacks, and they can also behave in an unpredictable way,” Mr Delzoppo said. “Several years ago, a large cassowary began kicking at the doors and windows of a man’s house at Mission Beach, and knocked him down an embankment.”
It was then established that the man had just moved into the house and that the previous inhabitant had been feeding the bird, which was captured by wildlife officers and transferred to a national park.
Mr Delzoppo said people were just being asked to leave cassowaries alone and let them live their natural lives in the rainforest, as they have done for millions of years.
We have seen a family of cassowaries in Etty Bay in 2020. They were walking on the beach and amongst the fig trees quite happily but several people couldn’t help but want to get close to them. One of the cassowaries tried to steal a sandwich from a table but the person shooed it away.
We also seen one on the road out of Mission Beach and stopped at a safe distance to wait for it to leave the road but while we were waiting some impatient woman pulled up along side of us and told us to just toot our horn and it should move off.
Magnificent birds to watch from a safe distance.
Leave them alone as they can be very aggressive. Whilst serving in PNG in the Army I saw a teenage boy killed by one of them. There is no need to feed them as they have a varied diet with plenty of food to choose from without us interfering.