Sullivan's Pet

Inside a wooden shed, surrounded by tropical rainforest, a group of outback gamblers crowd around a cockfighting pit. Squatting opposite each other with spurred gamecocks in hand is Sullivan, a moustached, well-dressed man, and Les, a thin man in his twenties. Sullivan boasts about his killer bird, Raptor, and impressed with Les’ spirit, Cindy, a busty young blonde, bets on him. After a vicious fight, Les’ bird emerges victorious. He collects his money and after tossing his mortally injured bird into a barrel, takes his leave as he has a date to keep. Cindy smirks - indeed he does!

As Les makes his way along an overgrown path through the thick rainforest, he hears strange grumbling noises from behind. He looks over his shoulder and sees a horny crest slicing between the ferns like a shark’s fin through water. Les runs wildly through the undergrowth and comes face to face with Raptor, a southern cassowary, which leaps at him with razor-sharp inner toe claws extended.

Minutes later, Sullivan and Cindy gaze down at Les’ disembowelled body on the forest floor. He never stood a chance against Raptor, their killer bird. Cindy says they’ll add Les to the pile and assures Sullivan it’ll be more of a contest next time.