Cassowaries

[flyweed]

sorry...accidental double post

 

[Mmmaddie13]

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X2

Do you need a permit to keep them? Where do you get them?

 

[call ducks]

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Yes but those are wild. I suspect tame ones would be a bit more tame

 

[Supreme Emu]

Hi, Casuarius. Nice to hear from you! I'd be pleased to have a couple of paragraphs of information on the cassowary. I love my emus, but they do seem . . . ahem . . . common in comparison to your birds.

Supreme Plain Bird

P.s.: if you pay your ten bucks to get into The Scenic Picnic Spot, and then wind up in hospital after getting head-butted and stomped on by a giant, multi-coloured flightless bird . . . do you get your ten bucks back?

 

[casuarius]

No permits required to keep them yet. Eventually one would probably need a endangered species permit. I believe various counties in various states require a exotic animal or dangerous animal permit. Most areas consider them no different than any other ratite. As to where you would get them, im one of 4 private breeders that I know of in the US currently. They don't breed like the other Ratites, very few fertile eggs come out of a seasons clutch. Zoos pretty much snatch the chicks up as soon as we have them available. Overall there are fewer than 50 of them left in the US, and to my knowledge we have the largest captive population of any other country besides some of the Asian countries (indonesia, philippines, etc.) Anyway, they can't take snow and ice, and must be sheltered from it. Their toes will get frost bit and fall off if not worse. I feed them dry dog food with fruit on occassion, and yes they are the most intelligent of the ratites. They learn, and remember well...also hold grudges. Most people give these birds a bad wrap, but know nothing about them and have never even seen one...but in all honesty they aren't that bad. I think everyone wants something they can touch or pet, but these are something you admire from the opposite side of the fence. I feed and water from the opposite side, and I have lock out pens to lure them in so I can get the eggs. I never have to go in the same pen with them, even though I do almost daily, and outside of breeding season they don't bother me. Some birds are a exception though.

 

[Mmmaddie13]

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Wow. That is too cool.

The snow and ice thing is a no-no for me, being in Colorado. But they certainly are beautiful birds! Keep up the good work, and thank you for the information.

 

[casuarius]

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As long as they have a shelter to get in out of they are fine. They seem to handle the cold really well, but at worst here it usually gets around 20, or teens at night...any colder and I would probably lock them in the shelter over night.

 

[2buckskins]

No snow + ice here in sunny Northern California!

 

[casuarius]

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There is one guy in San Diego that hatches a couple now and then, there are probably a few solitary adults scattered across CA. Alot of Cassowaries came from a retired breeder in San Francisco, he was the biggest producer of them at one time.

 

[Supreme Emu]

Could we have a 'Portfolio Award'?

Check the quality of the portfolio of images posted here, readers -- that is, over all, as a gallery. Every one of the eleven is spot-on neatly framed. The fourth photo is so neat and square it looks almost as though the cassowary is co-operating. Notice that the fencing shows in only half the shots. In the rest, the background is indistinguishable from the bird's natural habitat.

Bravo! You could place them in any gallery anywhere.