That development kickstarted a public appeal by him in which he called for animal/veterinary experts to visit his property in a bid for it to be looked over and given the right long-term care/treatment.

Just days ago experts from Tropical vets did just that, and in sad circumstances released a statement a short time ago after thoroughly examining the cassowary.

The sad outcome

“As vets, sometimes we get to save lives and sometimes we have to make hard decisions around the pain and welfare of our patients,” a Tropical Vets spokesperson began.

“Over the last week or so, Dr Graham has been consulting with and examining an adult Cassowary on behalf of the Department of Environment and Science.

“This bird was found with a nasty, chronic injury deep in the Daintree National Park.

“Today, Dr Graham sedated the adult male cassowary to fully examine the foot injury that it had.

“It was noted that the bird was in very poor condition (20kg when he should have been around 40kg), was unable to move at any speed at all and was in pain with every step.

“We presume at some point in the past this bird had been involved in a car accident resulting in a terrible injury to his foot that had healed very poorly.

“Unfortunately, after some discussion and ultimately putting the animal first the very sad decision to euthanise this bird was made. This was done while the bird was still under deep sedation.

"Dr Graham would like to thank the property owners and DES staff for their cooperation and support to help carry out this task today.”

Final goodbye

The man who showed complete empathy and literally took the bird under his wing released a heartfelt message upon accepting the unfortunate outcome.

… “The humane decision was made to euthanise it painlessly and ease its suffering,” Cow Bay Steve told Newsport.

“Given its poor condition, it would unfortunately never get any better and would have been at the mercy of predators.

“Its poor condition was really brought home to us after returning from a recent trip to the local dump, when we had a fit and healthy cassowary cross the road in front of us.

“This one stood tall and proud with a musculature body - no evidence of a limp or stooped over like our injured bird.

“The difference between the two was like night and day and it was karma that we could compare the two birds.

“The vet confirmed its sex, so farewell little male cassowary we'll miss your presence around the house and many, many thanks to you all who reached out with messages of support and donated rainforest food and fruit.

“It made its final journey a bit easier.”