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Sad news about Cassowary

To: Iain Campbell <>
Subject: Sad news about Cassowary
From: Phil Gregory <>
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2015 06:33:00 +0000
Hi Iain,
We are very upset, such a waste of such a beautiful bird, and of uncertain
causes, I am worrying about poisons in particular ; I just hope we can keep
the male and the chick safe
Regards
Phil

On Sat, Sep 26, 2015 at 12:44 AM, Iain Campbell <>
wrote:

> That is very sad news Phil. I really hope you can find the cause. Your
> place is such an important refuge that it would be a tragedy if the
> population that uses it is decimated.
>
> Regards,
> Iain
>
> On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 12:07 AM, Phil Gregory <> wrote:
>
>> Many thousands of people over the years have seen the Cassowaries at
>> Cassowary House at Kuranda, one of the best places to see them. Sadly, all
>> is far from well locally as we have now lost two big female birds in the
>> past 18 months, both ostensibly from peritonitis:
>>
>> Last week Sept 14 our beautiful big adult female Cassowary Missy was
>> found dead in a neighbour's garden, some guests there reported a sleeping
>> Cassowary in the forest, and on checking our friends found her dead, having
>> died around Sept 14.  Missy was in the prime of life and should have been
>> with us for years yet, she was also such a sweet tempered bird and so good
>> with people without being tame, it is like losing one of the family as we'd
>> known her for 15 years. Our Kuranda vet did an autopsy and apparently it
>> was caused by peritonitis, a chronic inflammation of the gut, but why?
>>
>> This is the second adult female to die of this in the past 18 months here
>> and we do not know what is the cause, it is very worrying, we are wondering
>> if someone is poisoning rats or something and the birds are taking the
>> carrion as they do. Missy had been spending long periods each day earlier
>> this month sitting quietly under our big Waterberry tree, she looked in
>> good health and was eating normally with normal scats. Our property is a
>> long-established haven for them and they know they are safe here, away from
>> dogs, cars and logging trucks.
>>
>> All very distressing, we still have the male with one 6 week old chick
>> coming daily, but just hope nothing untoward happens to them
>> Phil Gregory.
>>
>> Website 1: Http://www.sicklebillsafaris.com
>> Website 2: Http://www.cassowary-house.com.au
>>
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>
>
>
> --
>
>
> Iain Campbell
> Tropical Birding Tours
> www.tropicalbirding.com
>
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