The Cassowary Ransom

Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea is literally miles from no where.  Small villages dot the area around Tawali Resort and the resort's infrastructure provides a living for many of the villagers in some way.  Life without cars and very little electricity in a place surrounded by exotic birds and incredible reefs may seem idyllic especially in these rustic hunter gatherer type villages where a traditional way of life is still practiced, however, the green eyed monster of jealousy lives here just like it does in any big city.  Let’s not forget that the heritage of these people includes ancestors who practiced head hunting well into the 1950's.  From time to time,  living in the shadow of a luxury resort has caused a few problems with the local people.  Tawali kept two Cassowary birds as pets in a fenced enclosure for the guests to enjoy and get a rare up close look at a very large and dangerous bird.  Unfortunately one of the cassowary escaped it’s habitat and was caught in a nearby village where a plan was hatched to ransom the bird for 50kina (at the time of this story that was about $15 USD).  The people at the resort were outraged at the blackmail attempt and refused to pay the ransom.  The villagers warned that if the money was not paid, they would kill the cassowary bird.  Well, the resort stuck to its principals, and to prove they were serious, the villagers killed the bird.  Now like I said, this is a hunter gatherer society where nothing is wasted, so after killing the cassowary, they cooked and ate him.  Apparently cassowary is delicious to the local palate.  The villagers were at the resort very early the next day offering 50 kind, now the established market rate for a cassowary,  to purchase the remaining bird for a tribal feast.  I know I ate a lot of “chicken” while I was in PNG, perhaps I too enjoyed a bite of cassowary.

I think this is the one that survived.  They look like they would be a little tough to me!