Australians hit by Cyclone Yasi warned to stay away from deadly giant birds - Telegraph.co.uk

The government, which is arranging emergency aerial food drops for the birds in an attempt to keep them away from residential areas, has warned locals to be on the lookout for hungry cassowaries.

"It's vital that members of the public don't feed cassowaries – for their own safety and in the interests of the birds' survival long term, Kate Jones, the Queensland sustainability minister, said.

"Cassowaries that come to expect food from humans can become aggressive and dangerous."

The warning comes after several cassowaries were spotted close to towns following Cyclone Larry, which hit the same stretch of coast in 2006. After the storm, one third of the population of cassowaries died, and conservationists fear that without intervention the same could happen.

Bob Irwin, a conservationist and the father of late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, said it could take 18 months for the rainforest to grow back and that in that time scores of cassowaries could starve to death.

"As well as losing their food they are losing their homes so they will be very disoriented.

"Like any other animal, if you interfere with them there could be a risk, but the main threat is to the birds themselves."

While the birds, which resemble emus, are known to be highly aggressive if approached, there is only one documented human death caused by a cassowary.

In 1926 Philip McClean, 16, was killed after he and his brother attempted to beat a cassowary to death. The bird fought back, charging at McClean and knocking him down and slashing his neck with a claw.