An animal auction of a dead Florida man's estate is being headlined by one big-ticket item: the cassowary that killed him.

Mr Hajos, fell between the pens of his two cassowaries when at least one of the birds attacked him through the fence. He was found by rescue workers on the ground between the two pens, grievously injured, with an angry bird watching on.

"A couple of people from our crew had to dodge the bird themselves," Alachua County Fire Rescue's deputy chief Jeff Taylor said.

"The bird was obviously agitated and was trying to come at them through the fence, but they were quick enough to get themselves out of the way of the bird.