Emu underpass plan to save threatened Australian bird

September 05, 2012|Reuters

By Damian Gill

SYDNEY, Sept 5 (Reuters) - In Australia, the question is not
why did the emu cross the road, but how?

Australian road officials have proposed building emu
underpasses beneath the east coast Pacific Highway so a
population of endangered flightless emu can safely cross one of
Australia's busiest and most dangerous roads.

But wildlife experts say the emu, the world's 3rd largest
bird and one which can run as fast as 50 kph (30mph), is
unlikely to use the underpasses.

"Emus are big birds with little brains," said Gary Whale of
Birdlife Australia.

The New South Wales state roads authority said it was
working on a plan to minimise the impact of a Pacific Highway
upgrade on a small emu population on Australia's east coast.

Between 20 and 40 people have died on the Pacific Highway
each year over the last decade, prompting authorities to spend
hundreds of millions of dollars upgrading the highway to get rid
of accident prone "black spots".

But Birdlife Australia said the suggested new route of the
highway would bisect emu foraging and breeding areas and
endanger the lives of the emus in Clarence Valley.

"It could see the extinction of the coastal emu," said

Special pathways to "provide safe passage under bridges"
were being considered as part of an environmental impact
statement, said a spokesperson for the New South Wales Roads and
Maritime Service.

"There are also four dedicated underpass structures designed
for the emus, three 5.5 metres (18 feet) high and the other four
metres (13 feet) high," said the spokesperson.

Emus can stand up to two metres (6.6 ft) tall.

Animal highway tunnels already exist for koalas and reptiles
and suspension rope bridges span the Pacific Highway for animals
like possums.

A final decision on the emu underpasses will be made later
in the year, but Whale said he was pessimistic about the birds
ever using them, given their lack of intelligence - a problem
that can make it hard simply to shoo them out of fenced fields.

"(Farmers) open their gate to try and encourage them to go
out," Whale said.

get through."

(Reporting by Damian Gill; Editing by Michael Perry and Elaine