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Gooday all,
Front page story in the Bowen Independent this morning Wed. 24
July 2002.
Another story of the demise of wildlife by the misguided good
intentions of locals and visitors.
Mount Gordon emu hit by
semi-trailer.
An Emu that had made its home near the Mount Gordon Rest
Area has been run down by a semi-trailer.
The Qld. Parks and Wildlife Service was advised on
Saturday that the bird had been hit and killed.
The bird had become something of a tourist attraction
since it first appeared at the rest area about a fortnight
ago.
Council workers had tried to chase it away for its own
good, but it kept returning because it knew it would be fed by people using the
rest area.
An all-out effort was made to capture the bird and take it
to a safer location last Thursday.
But it managed to elude the combined effort by a QPWS
officer, the Councils Shire Ranger, the local Vet and a Qld. Police
Officer.
QPWS officer Jo Wyeth said the Emu appeared wary of people
attempting to catch it.
She said there was a possibility the bird had been hand
raised and let go in an inappropriate manner.
"When people hand raise a wild animal, we should be
notified when and where it is released into the wild." Ms Wyeth
said.
Emus were "wild things" and should not be fed, even with
the best intentions.
"It only tends to bring them closer to civilisation, and
they lose some of their fear of man" she said.
"If fed they come to expect it. Emus are large and
dangerous."
Ms Wyeth said in the case of the Mount Gordon Emu, feeding
it only encouraged it to hang around. She warned people against feeding any wild
animal.
There have been two other Emu deaths on the Bruce Highway
north of Bowen in recent weeks. End.
Jon Wren
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