In July 2007 the Australian Rainforest Foundation took over management of the Garners Beach cassowary rehabilitation facility (seen here from the air), near Mission Beach in far north Queensland, from state government agency the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS).

Half way between Cairns and Townsville, the Mission Beach region is a cassowary 'hot spot' where due to development, feral animals and more recently cyclones, the birds have been forced from their natural habitat. Venturing out, from the former safety of the rainforest to find food, the Big Bird and its chicks face serious danger from cars and domestic pets. About 40 cassowaries were killed on roads in the Mission Beach area alone, between 1989 and 1998

Further to this horrific number, new figures in the recently released Queensland Parks and Wildlife 2006-07 State of the Wet Tropics Report show that 31 cassowaries died in the wake of Cyclone Larry (March 2006). In the year leading up to June 2007, 15 of the endangered birds died around Innisfail, 11 in Mission Beach and five in Tully. Car accidents accounted for 18 fatalities and dog attacks killed six birds. Other causes of death included malnutrition and fights with other cassowaries.

The Garners Beach rehabilitation facility

Today, cassowaries are regularly sighted in backyards, caravan parks and picnic areas expecting to be fed. The birds known to be naturally shy and elusive have gained the reputation of dangerous and aggressive as locals and visitors wrongly feed the bird and wonder why it keeps coming back for more.

	Steve Garrad – ARF Community Conservation Officer, Mission Beach

Relocating the cassowary back to its natural habitat is not always the best or immediate answer. Some cassowaries have become so dependent on human handouts that they have forgotten how to forage for their own food in the forest and have been known to suffer from malnutrition and even starvation.

Many such birds have found refuge at the Garners Beach facility.

Opened in 2001 by QPWS the facility is on 1ha of land donated by locals Frieda and Joseph Jorrison, and financially assisted by the Regional Cassowary Advisory Group and a range of government and private stakeholders.

The ARF now assumes the daily running and the associated costs of the world-class facility. The Foundation has appointed a Conservation Officer to be manager/caretaker of the facility who lives on site, working directly with QPWS officers and the community to achieve good conservation outcomes for cassowaries and the environment.

This facility is important globally in dealing with injured and distressed cassowaries, endangered birds that are crucial in the ongoing fight to protect and extend our remaining rainforests. 

Cassowary at the beach