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Dear Mr Hunt
Please help us stop cassowaries being killed on the roads

This overwhelming threat to the cassowaries survival needs to be addressed urgently

Threatened Species Commissioner, Gregory Andrews at Mission Beach on World Cassowary Day 2015

We would like to thank you for appointing Gregory Andrews as the first Threatened Species Commissioner. The initiative to help address the threats to some of our most threatened and/or iconic species is most welcome.

We were delighted and honoured that Gregory was able to attend World Cassowary Day 2015 at Mission Beach in September this year where he  saw first hand how much the cassowary meant to the Mission Beach community.  He certainly got into the spirit of  'Celebrating Cassowaries and their Friends', the theme of the day.  You can see just how much community enthusiasm there is for the natural environment and the wildlife of the Wet Tropics in the photos of the event here.  

While we can celebrate how special cassowaries are, our community is heartbroken at the number of cassowaries being killed on roads, most of them  at Mission Beach.   The latest death  (24th Nov) was early morning on a commuter road  at Mission Beach.  The driver did not stop or report the incident, leaving  the rest of the cassowary family at risk of  being also struck by early morning work traffic. The incident  brings the Shocking road death toll to at least 18 this year.

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A male cassowary stands over its dead chick, struck by a vehicle early morning on a Mission Beach commuter road

As our town grows, the increase of traffic will increase cassowary road deaths, unless you help.
 

Year six students proudly pose with signs inspired by their imaginative drawings

We try everything we can to help protect the cassowary because  this magnificent bird means so much to us. 

The cassowary is not only important to our community identity, it is a major asset to our tourism economy. 

We are working with scientists, road managers and the driving public to identify practical and effective solutions. But we can't do it without your help.
 

Please  work with the relevant organisations especially Queensland Government’s Main Roads department, Cassowary Coast Regional Council  and the Cassowary  Recovery Team to stop cassowary deaths now; and please ask the Threatened Species Commissioner to include the cassowary on the 20 Birds by 2020 Action List.

We have asked people through the Mission Beach Cassowaries group to let you know how important the cassowary is to their sense of community identity, and as a major asset to the Mission Beach tourism economy.  We hope their stories will inspire you to help as much as the cassowary inspires them.

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Contact Greg Hunt via