Helmeted cassowary escape in Elst, Netherlands, Digi Mart USA News (Elst, Gelderland, Netherlands): A helmeted cassowary, described as the world’s most dangerous bird because of its dinosaur-like claws with nails up to twelve centimeters long, escaped from a private zoo and came face to face with a cyclist beside the bike path in Elst, Gelderland, late last week. The cyclist immediately called the local police.
The private zoo is located on the Valburgseweg and was set up by gemstone entrepreneur Ruben Marsman, who earned a fortune selling minerals and fossils under the name Ruben Robijn at spiritual fairs for years. He used that capital to buy properties and now feeds his animals from rental income, according to a 2023 interview with the AD newspaper.
Marsman said in the same interview that he keeps two spotted hyenas, servals, Asian small-clawed otters and Defassa waterbucks in enclosures on his estate, in addition to the cassowary. The bird had escaped only briefly before it was recaptured.
Police said it took eight police cars and a specialist veterinarian using a tranquilizer dart to return the animal to its enclosure. A spokesperson for Politie Oost-Nederland said police received a report of an animal walking along the road, captured it and placed it back in its enclosure.
The case has since been handed to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).
An NVWA spokesperson said the agency assisted with the capture and that it is unclear how the animal got out. The owner has been instructed to ensure that it cannot escape again.
Under Dutch rules, there is currently no positive list for birds, so keeping a cassowary is not prohibited as long as CITES rules protecting species are not violated; however, owners must prevent escapes under Article 1.6 of the Besluit houders van dieren.
Marsman was previously the subject of a police raid in March 2024, when dozens of officers searched the property and seized caracals, Chilean flamingos, African white-backed vultures and two black panther cubs. He told the AD that the cubs had been left on his doorstep the day before the raid, and described the vulture issue as purely administrative.
Earlier this year, the Public Prosecution Service announced that Marsman will be prosecuted for illegally keeping part of his exotic animal collection. Marsman has suggested that dissatisfied tenants of his properties may be seeking revenge.
It is not yet clear when the case will come before the court in Overijssel. For now, he is allowed to keep the cassowary.
