Geoff Helisma, Clarence Valley Independent
According to Clarence Valley Council there are fewer than 50 coastal emus remaining along the east coast of Australia and only 36 individuals in the Taloumbi/Tyndale/Pillar Valley region, if the estimates in CVC’s Natural Resource Management Coastal Emus: Sighting Data Analysis, July 2020 are correct.
Recently, an emu was killed on Brooms Head Road and, as a consequence, CVC has acted in conjunction with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) “to put in place strategies to reduce the risk of this tragic event occurring again”, according to a February 4 post on CVC’s facebook page.
The council has since placed additional road signage in the vicinity of Tailem Drive (where the death occurred), “to alert motorists to the risk of collision and to reduce driver speed”, and slashed roadside vegetation to “increase visibility”.
“In the longer term, DPIE, under the Saving our Species (SoS) program, is working with landholders along the Brooms Head road to address fencing issues and further reduce risks to emus from road strike,” CVC’s facebook post states.
“Please remember to slow down along the Brooms Head road and if you find an injured emu, please call WIRES for assistance.”
Meanwhile, it was Lions Club of Clarence – Environmental that advised SoS and CVC about the death, asking for “a digital warning sign where the emus have currently been crossing at Tailem Drive”, said Lions Environmental member and Brooms Head resident Steve Otton.
“Long grass has also been cut at both crossings and diamond signs are soon to arrive, making this second crossing on Brooms Head Road more noticeable,” he said.
“This dangerous crossing is on a blind bend, driving west from Brooms Head over the hill to Tailem Drive. “We will continue to come up with warning ideas to save our endangered emus, but these things take time.”
Related story: Endangered emu becomes road kill
This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 10 March 2021.
