Senate vote on big birds

GREENS senator Larissa Waters will submit a motion calling for federal funding for the preservation of cassowaries.

The motion, which will go to a vote on Thursday, comes after the Queensland Government promised up to $50,000 to keep a struggling far north Queensland rehabilitation centre for the birds open for another three months.

“If the Senate passes the motion, it will send a strong message to the Abbott Government that action is needed,” a spokeswoman for the Queensland senator said.

Cassowaries are native to northern Queensland and Papua New Guinea and are capable of inflicting serious and sometime fatal wounds by kicking with large feet.

They are extremely shy animals and not often seen but the area south of Cairns markets itself as the Cassowary Coast.