A little southern cassowary chick was found on the side of the road almost a year ago after its father was hit and killed by a car.
It's a scene wildlife officers in "cassowary country", north Queensland, have become used to.
The flightless birds have been listed as an endangered species at both the state and federal level, largely due to habitat loss, being hit by cars, fed by visitors and attacked by dogs.
But in a significant win for conservation efforts, the orphaned chick found by the road in November weighing just 1kg is now a strong, healthy adolescent back living in the wild.
"We spent nearly a full year raising that chick," Queensland Department of Environment senior wildlife officer Alex Diczbalis told AAP.
"We're used to seeing a fair bit of sadness ... we get a lot of injury and birds that don't make it, so yeah, to see this one released into the wild, it's significant."
Conservation group C4 and tropical vets worked with wildlife officers to hand-feed the juvenile before transitioning it to an enclosure that mimicked its native habitat.
"It was moving between a number of different pens that we planted with native food trees and water features that simulate creeks," Mr Diczbalis said.
The team strategically placed food throughout the enclosure without the bird seeing to teach it the foraging behaviour it would need to survive in the wild.
This way the bird can be raised without seeing people as a food source because it would have been following its dad around seeing what he is picking up," Mr Diczbalis said.
"It might take a whole day to find food but we're preparing it as it's going to have to forage for food in the wild."
A cassowary raised in its native environment would usually move away from its dad and go out on its own once it was about 12-18 months old.
After following that trajectory and observing the orphaned chick's foraging skills, the team knew the 23kg bird was ready to go home.
"Transporting these animals is not an easy feat," Mr Diczbalis said.
The cassowary was sedated, placed in a box fitted with cameras and driven to a suitable release location at Bramston Beach, where vets monitored it as it woke up.
"You can tell when it's ready - it starts to sit up and look around," Mr Diczbalis said.
"In this case, it knew what to do straight away - it saw the rainforest and slipped away."
Just as it had learned to do in the conservation facility, the bird expertly navigated the dense rainforest and vines, Mr Diczbalis said.
"It was a pretty special moment - a lot of work goes into it with a lot of people involved," he said.
The wildlife carers try not to name any of the cassowaries they look after so they don't get attached.
If they've selected a habitat large and dense enough "ideally we don't see that animal again", Mr Diczbalis said.
