Meet the southern cassowary
At two metres tall, weighing
65kg and reaching speeds
up to 50km/h, the cassowary
(Casuarius casuarius johnsonii)
is a force to be reckoned with.
Although attacks are rare,
when threatened (especially
when guarding eggs or chicks)
the cassowary may deploy a
dangerous and unpredictable
weapon, the powerful dagger claw
in the middle of its three toes.
The southern cassowary
belongs to the most primitive
group of birds, the ratites
(fl ightless birds), and is one of
only three species of cassowary
in the world. The only other ratite living in Australia is the emu.
Classifi ed endangered and restricted to wet tropical rainforests
between Ingham and Cape York Peninsula, the cassowary’s numbers
are unknown. There may be as few as 1500 in the wild — dire fi gures
for a keystone species whose habit of eating and dispersing rainforest
plant seeds makes it vital to the survival of these rainforests.
The continued loss of habitat through land clearing and
fragmentation, along with the menace of domestic dogs, speeding
cars, disease, shooting and accidental capture in feral pig traps, have
all contributed to the cassowary’s decline.
The development threat
Liz Gallie is not so upbeat. She fears that compassion for the
cassowary is no longer a part of the local psyche. As the town’s
population rapidly increases, drawing in outsiders who don’t
remember this once laidback village’s halcyon days, so does traffic
flow, the demand for land and an overwhelming eagerness to make
money off the spiking tourism sector.
There’s money to be made in Mission Beach but, even under
the guise of “eco-tourism”, Liz Gallie says the environment has
taken a back seat and she for one is losing heart.
“It’s very difficult to watch as the special values [of this place]
are steadily eroded by unnecessary and inappropriate development,
especially during economic booms and perceived development
opportunities following natural disasters such as cyclones,” says Liz.
“Our natural environment is our main attractant so we’ve got
to protect it, understand it and listen to our experts. We need to
understand the importance of the need for cassowary corridors
and a connected habitat.
“We need a government that leads with compassion and looks
at the wellness of our communities,” she says. For now, she fears,
the cassowary might just have become far too difficult to save.
But Peter Rowles is staying optimistic: “We have a lot of
protected areas [in Mission Beach] and, even though we do have
problems with development, we believe that, by expanding the
cassowary’s habitat through land buy-backs and by increasing the
connectivity of their forests, Mission Beach will continue to have
a thriving population of cassowaries.
“These birds will not go extinct on our watch.”
Captivated by wild places and wildlife and passionate about
their preservation, Catherine Lawson and David Bristow run
wildtravelstory.com, a website dedicated to inspiring travellers to
journey further and deeper and tackle adventures they never thought
possible. Road testing every adventure is the couple’s 7-year-old
daughter Maya who is world-schooled along the way.
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