Conservationists say NSW decision will damage native flora and fauna, and result in horses starving

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The New South Wales government is to introduce laws to protect the Snowy Mountains brumby from culling, angering conservationists.

On Sunday the NSW deputy premier and Nationals leader, John Barilaro, announced he would introduce legislation to parliament this week recognising the brumbies’ “heritage value”.

The legislation would prohibit culling of the brumbies in the the Kosciuszko national park if passed.

“I have always opposed cruel forms of culling and have advocated for non-lethal ways of managing brumby numbers,” Barilaro said.

The decision comes a few weeks after an independent committee found feral horses in the Alpine region were endangering more than 20 plant species and seven animal species, including three endangered frogs.

If brumbies were found in “highly sensitive” alpine areas of the national park, authorities would be called in to move them, he said.

But some experts have said the bill will wreck conservation efforts in the alpine areas. “It’s a disaster to our national heritage,” said Prof Don Driscoll from Deakin University.

A time to cull? The battle over Australia's brumbies Read more

“Kosciuszko national park not only contains the nation’s highest mountain, but rare animal and fauna species that evolved in the region over tens of thousands of years.”

It’s estimated more than 6,000 feral horses occupy about half of the 700,000-hectare Kosciuszko national park.

For Barilaro to sacrifice those things for animals introduced in 1820 was “madness”, Driscoll said. “It’s also cruel to thousands of horses because of the escalating population that will starve to death due to the decline in food resources.”

The National Conservation Council branded the move a “grotesque” misuse of environmental law.

Its chief executive, Kate Smolski, said the brumby was the “most destructive pest species” in the state’s fragile alpine areas and is destroying vulnerable wildlife.

“These species occur nowhere else and if the damage caused by feral horses does not stop we may lose them forever,” she said on Monday.

“It is critical that we control their numbers in our alpine areas, and it must be done as humanely as possible.”

The National Parks Association of NSW accused the government of valuing introduced species over native wildlife. “The decision is an international embarrassment,” its chief executive, Alix Goodwin, said.

The NSW Greens agree wild brumbies were having a negative impact on the environment and their numbers needed to be reduced, but want better control methods.

“The reality is, we cannot shoot our way out of this problem; we need sustainable and humane wild horse population control measures, ensuring that we also protect Kosciuszko’s pristine natural environment,” the party’s animal and environmental spokeswoman, Mehreen Faruqi, said.

The bill will lead to a research and monitoring program, a brumby count and a marketing campaign to promote the rehoming and adoption of animals that need to be removed from the park.



The legislation will also require all future plans of management for the national park to “recognise the cultural significance of the brumby”, Barilaro’s statement said.

The environment minister, Gabrielle Upton, has also approved horse riding in four national parks – Kosciuszko, Deua, Monga and Mummel Gulf – after a two-year trial.