Aussie national park's controversial plan sparks bitter debate: ‘People love them’
Aerial brumby culling was put on ice 20 years ago, but is a plan to revive it a “lifeline” for wildlife, or just “inhumane”?
Many horse lovers call them brumbies, but to conservationists they’re feral animals. And it’s not just their name that’s in dispute. Any decision about their existence in the fragile Snowy Mountains ecosystem can be guaranteed to spark bitter debate.
Friday’s announcement by the NSW Government to resume aerial shooting was no exception. The controversial plan aims to reduce their numbers across the Kosciuszko National Park and it has been heralded as a “lifeline” for wildlife, but also derided as “inhumane” to horses.
During her announcement, Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said horse numbers have “exploded” and they are doing “significant damage” to fragile alpine habitats. She then explained her decision to combat the problem, while acknowledging some within the community opposed it.
The government estimate is there are between 14,000 and 20,000 animals and Sharpe believes aerial shooting is needed to reduce them to 3000 by 2027.
“Our national parks are the places where we have a very solemn responsibility… to ensure that the native plants and animals are able to survive and not threatened with extinction,” she said.
Over 30 plants and animals threatened with extinction live across the alpine region, and wildlife advocates are concerned the horses are trampling habitat and destroying water sources.
Government consultation about the culling plan received over 11,000 submissions, and the minister revealed 82 per cent favoured introducing the measure.
An amendment will now be made to the state’s controversial Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act — a controversial plan created by then deputy premier John Barilaro in 2018.
'Shooting brumbies is horrific'
Australian Brumby Alliance president Jill Pickering is opposed to any culling, and would like to see a population of horses maintained in the national park. Pickering told Yahoo News Australia the government’s decision has left her “disappointed”.
She questioned claims by conservationists about the severity of damage horses do to the national park, arguing the impact of feral deer and pigs is underestimated because they are nocturnal and rarely seen.
“(Brumbies) are sentient animals, who are just munching grass, going to the loo and walking around. They're not terrible things,” she said.
Her concerns are backed by photographer Michelle Brown who has spent years documenting both the beauty of brumbies and the impact of ground shooting.
In 2022, she was left “gobsmacked” after a herd of animals she had been following were gunned down, and over the 2023 October long weekend she claims to have documented the bodies of over 135 more dead horses.
“Shooting brumbies is horrific,” she said. “I really only have to look at a photo of a carcass again and I have the smell return to my nose.”
Already concerned that ground control frequently requires multiple shots to achieve a kill, she believes the welfare outcomes of aerial shooting will be worse.
Welfare concerns about aerial horse culling
The use of aerial culling was banned 20 years ago after over 600 horses were shot across the Guy Fawkes River National Park.
Following a public backlash to the slaughter, governments switched to ground shooting, trapping and rehoming. But as horse numbers increased, conservationists renewed calls for aerial shooting to be reintroduced.
Acknowledging the animal welfare concerns, the environment minister said she understands that horses are “beautiful creatures” and that “people love them”. But she believes it’s important to consider the wellbeing of other species too.
“Animal welfare is the number one issue that we're talking about here. It's the animal welfare or threatened species that are literally on the brink of extinction as a result of a number of things. But the impact of horses is driving them faster to extinction,” she said.
While Sharpe maintains aerial shooting done well provides the best animal welfare outcomes, Emma Hurst, an MP from the Animal Justice Party has described the practice as “inhumane”.
Accusing the Minns government of failing to uphold its pre-election promise to reform animal protection laws, she said its “clear” the issue is not on its “priority list”.
“It is hard to see how the Animal Justice Party can continue to work with or support the NSW Labor Government,” she added.
Culling decision a ‘lifeline’ for wildlife
Among the most vocal supporters of today’s aerial culling announcement was Andrew Cox, the CEO of the Invasive Species Council, who called the environment minister “courageous”.
He said the plan “throws a lifeline” to dozens of endangered native animals including the southern corroboree frog and mountain pygmy possum.
"No one likes to see animals killed, but the sad reality is that we have a choice to make between urgently reducing the numbers of feral horses or accepting the destruction of sensitive alpine ecosystems and habitats, and the decline and extinction of native animals,” he said.
The Nature Conservation Council CEO Jacqui Mumford said ecosystems across the alps had been “trampled for too long”.
“Now we need to repair and restore these native habitats that have been decimated by feral horses, and are facing even further challenges brought about by climate change,” she said.
Why brumby numbers are disputed
There are several key disagreements that polarise horse advocates and conservationists. Chief among them is a dispute about how many horses live in Kosciuszko. That’s because, the count is completed using methods of estimation which critics say is “flawed”.
Despite some horse advocates arguing the government numbers are “biologically impossible”, Sharpe maintains its methods are “best practice” and had been verified by the CSIRO, two universities and the Queensland Bureau of Statistics.
Controversially, the decision to allow culling was made before an upper house inquiry into the methodology of the horse counting was completed. The National Party’s Wes Fang said there cannot be “confidence in the cull” because the inquiry has not been completed.
“The Labor Government needs to accept the clear advice from experts, that the numbers are inflated and incorrect,” he said.
The 2023 survey of horse numbers is currently under peer review and the results are expected this year, but Sharpe said the government could not afford to wait.
"The sooner we get the horse numbers down, the fewer horses actually need to be called into the future,” she said.
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