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ABC News
5 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Young endangered cassowary dies after ingesting fish hook
A juvenile cassowary has died in Far North Queensland after it ingested a fish hook, prompting fresh calls for tourists and locals to avoid feeding the birds or leaving fishing debris. Innisfail wildlife ranger Stephen Clough said he had been monitoring an adult male bird and his three chicks in the Coquette Point area on the Cassowary Coast, about 90 kilometres south of Cairns. He said he had observed the critically endangered birds approaching people for food for several weeks. "They were displaying behaviour which was consistent with behaviour we see when birds have been fed," Mr Clough said. The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) received a report on July 27 that one of the juveniles had "a length of fishing line dangling from its beak". "[The bird] was struggling and stepping on and tripping up on it and seemed to be in a little bit of pain," Mr Clough said. Rangers searched for and captured the bird, sedated it and took it to Tully veterinarian Graham Lauridsen for assessment. Mr Clough said the incident was "a sad reminder" for people to be more conscious of not feeding birds and to properly dispose of fishing materials. Listed as endangered, the southern cassowary's greatest threats are habitat loss, traffic and domestic dog attacks. While wildlife carers in the area regularly attended to sea birds and turtles swallowing fish hooks and lures, Mr Clough said it was less common for cassowaries. The DETSI said people should remove bait from hooks after a fishing session and discard any unwanted fishing tackle properly into a bin. Dr Lauridsen said it was the third cassowary found with a fishing hook lodged in its throat in the last year, with another at Etty Bay and another "further south". But unlike this latest chick, the last two survived. "Once we started and got an X-ray, the hook was well and truly stuck right down in its abdomen," Dr Lauridsen said. Dr Lauridsen said the hook had done too much internal damage and was in "such a precarious spot" that it could not be retrieved, and the bird died while sedated. He said it was important for the public to understand the risks of leaving fishing lines and rubbish around. "We're not just sort of polluting or leaving our litter around," he said. "It can create a very significant drama for, in this case, an endangered cassowary."
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Tourists and locals warned after rangers make sad find inside young cassowary
Locals and holidaymakers are being urged to make sure they dispose of their rubbish properly, in particular potentially harmful fishing gear including line, lures and hooks. Such items are known to cause injury and harm to wildlife with the latest warning coming after the seemingly unlikely death of a young cassowary. Rangers in the Coquette Point area of the Cassowary Coast Region in Queensland had been monitoring an adult male cassowary and its three juvenile offspring. While the public is reminded not to feed the large birds, which can be dangerous, the three cassowaries had begun approaching people for food in recent weeks. In late July, wildlife authorities received a report that one of the young birds had some fishing line dangling from its beak. Footage taken by a ranger shows the young cassowary struggling to walk as it continually trips over the fishing line. Fearing the worst, rangers were able to catch the bird and sedate it. And what they found sadly confirmed their suspicions, and the animal ultimately died from its injuries. X-ray images shared by the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) on Wednesday showed a fishing hook firmly lodged in the bird's internal organs. "We believe the baited fishing hook was discarded as rubbish near the Johnstone River, and then picked up by the bird," Wildlife Ranger Stephen Clough explained. "Discarded hooks and fishing line are well-documented threats to sea birds and can also harm species like cassowaries. "People are asked to remove bait from hooks after a fishing session, and discard any unwanted fishing tackle properly into a bin," Ranger Clough said. Aussie wildlife killed or injured by fishing gear A vast array of coastal wildlife all around the country continues to be impacted by fishing gear that is not properly disposed of. Everything from seabirds to fish, turtles and dolphins has been found entangled and even killed by fishing line and hooks. In February, a platypus was found fatally entangled in fishing gear at a popular location on the Nepean River in NSW. In the same month, a Perth diver's footage showed a dolphin with line tightly wrapped around its tail, cutting deep into its flesh. Meanwhile, in March a turtle carcass was found with a "belly full of plastic" in the country's far north. Last month, specific new "tangle bins" were installed in NSW National Parks near bodies of water that regularly attract fishers in a bid to help tackle the ongoing problem. Queensland's Cassowary Coast Region was last year crowned as the state's most popular holiday destination over the Easter school holiday period. Visitors were recently reminded to never feed or interact with wild cassowaries at campsites over concerns the wild birds were becoming increasingly expectant and approaching people for food.
