The Department of Environment and Science has announced that two endangered cassowaries, rescued by Wildlife Officers in Far North Queensland, have been released back into the wild.
Senior Wildlife Officer at the Department, Dinouk Perera said many people dedicated many hours to care for the birds after they were rescued.
“In April 2021, a cassowary chick displaying signs of illness was rescued by Wildlife Officers at Wongaling Beach,” Mr Perera said.
“After the bird was assessed and treated by a local vet, attempts were made to reunite the chick with its parent, but unfortunately these were unsuccessful.”
He said the cassowary was taken to the Garners Beach Cassowary Rehabilitation Facility for intense monitoring and care, and a couple of months later it was transferred to the Tablelands Cassowary facility.
“The Tablelands facility has a large, forested free-range enclosure that encourages natural behaviour and reduces the likelihood of the bird becoming habituated to associating humans with food, before it was released at Hull Heads National Park as a healthy sub-adult bird,” the Officer said.
Mr Perera said a second cassowary chick with a neck injury was rescued by Wildlife Officers at Maria Creek in April 2022.
“The cassowary required surgery and remained in care of Tropical Vet Services before being moved to Garners Beach,” he said.
“Recently, we took the sub-adult cassowary into the Clump Mountain National Park where it was released to take up its vital ecological role as a ‘rainforest gardener’ by eating rainforest fruits, including some that are poisonous to other animals.”
He thanked the Tropical Vet Services for providing vet treatment and Rainforest Reserves Australia which operated the Tablelands Cassowary Facility.
“We’d also like to thank C4 — the Community for Coastal and Cassowary Conservation — who provide food and care for cassowaries held in the Queensland Government Garners Beach Cassowary Rehabilitation facility,” Mr Perera said.
