Right: Ground "pugged" by brumby groups is cited as proof that horses do not belong near fragile places like sphagnum moss beds.
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Background information
A brumby is a free-roaming feral horse in Australia. Although found in many areas around the country, the best-known brumbies are found in the Australian Alps region. Today, most of them are found in the Northern Territory, with the second largest population in Queensland. A group of brumbies is known as a "mob" or "band".
Brumbies are the descendants of escaped or lost horses, dating back in some cases to those belonging to the early European settlers. Today they live in many places, including some National Parks, notably Alpine National Park in Victoria, Barrington Tops National Park in New South Wales, and Carnarvon National Park in Queensland. Occasionally they are mustered and domesticated for use as camp drafters, working stock horses on farms or stations, but also as trail horses, show horses, Pony Club mounts and pleasure horses. They are the subject of some controversy - regarded as a pest and threat to native ecosystems by environmentalists and the government, but also valued by others as part of Australia's heritage, with supporters working to prevent inhumane treatment or extermination, and rehoming brumbies who have been captured.
There are no known predators of feral horses in Australia, although it is possible that dingoes or wild dogs occasionally take foals. On average, 20 percent of the feral horse population dies each year, mainly from drought, poisonous plants, and parasites. Few feral horses reach 20 years of age. It is estimated that the maximum possible rate that feral horse numbers can increase is 20-25 percent per year.
Population management
Although poor management of feral horses may pose an ecological and environmental threat in some parts of Australia, their management is made difficult by issues of feasibility and public concern. Currently, management attempts vary, as feral horses are considered pests in some states, such as South Australia, but not others, including Queensland. There is also controversy over removal of brumbies from National Parks. The primary argument in favour of the removal of brumbies is that they impact on fragile ecosystems and damage and destroy endangered native flora and fauna.
Public concern is a major issue in control efforts as many advocate for the protection of brumbies, including Indigenous groups, who believe feral horses belong to the country. Other horse interest groups resent the labelling of horses as "feral" and are completely opposed to any measures that threaten their survival. While some animal welfare groups such as the RSPCA reluctantly accept culling, other organizations such as Save the Brumbies oppose lethal culling techniques and attempt to organise relocation of the animals instead.
Meanwhile, conservationist groups, such as the Australian Conservation Foundation, favour humane culling as a means of control because of the damage brumby overpopulation can cause to native flora and fauna, but are also generally opposed to various means of extermination. This makes management a challenge for policymakers.
Population control methods
Options for population control include fertility control, ground and helicopter shooting, and mustering and trapping. None of the methods provide complete freedom from suffering for the horses, and the cost of each is very high. The costs include those that are economic, such as research, equipment purchases, and labour expenditures, as well as moral concerns over the welfare of the horses. As a result, more effective and efficient means of control have been called for.
Fertility control is a non-lethal method of population management that is usually viewed as the most humane treatment, and its use is supported by the RSPCA.[53] While it appears as though these treatments are effective in the breeding season immediately following injection, the lasting effects are debated. Because it is costly and difficult to treat animals repeatedly, this method, despite being ideal, is not widely implemented.
Shooting by trained marksmen is considered to be the most practical method of control due to its effectiveness. The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries believe shooting is the preferred method of population control as it does not subject the horses to the stresses of mustering, yarding, and long-distance transportation, all of which are related to 'capture and removal' methods. Horses that are only initially wounded from shooting are tracked and dispatched if they are in accessible, open country.
Brumby advocacy groups do not consider mountain shooting to be humane. Helicopter shootings allow for aerial reconnaissance of a large area to target the densest populations, and shooters may get close enough to the target animals to ensure termination. This method is considered the most effective and cost efficient means of control, but disapproval is high amongst those that believe it is also inhumane. Organizations supporting brumbies argue that aerial shooting is unnecessary and that alternative population control methods have not been given adequate trials, while government officials express concern about the need to control rapidly growing populations to avoid ecological problems associated with too many feral horses in certain areas.
Mustering is a labour-intensive process that results in one of two major outcomes: slaughter for sale, or relocation. It may be assisted by feed-luring in which bales of hay are strategically placed to attract feral horses to a location where capture is feasible. Complicating this process is low demand for the captured horses, making it less desirable than fertility control or shooting, which reduce the population without having to find alternative locations for them.
History of management in national parks
As of 2020 the estimated number of brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park is 14,000 up from 6,000 in 2016.
Between 22 October and 24 October 2000, approximately 600 brumbies were shot in the Guy Fawkes River National Park by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. As a result of the public outcry that followed the NSW Government established a steering committee to investigate alternative methods of control. Since the campaign began to remove horses from the national park, over 400 have been passively trapped and taken from the Park, and 200 of these have been re-homed.
A particular feral horse of Australia, the Coffin Bay pony, was completely removed from the Coffin Bay National Park and relocated to a neighbouring parcel of land by 2004. This was a result of a public outcry to a previously proposed plan by South Australia's Department of Environment and Natural Resources to cull all animals in the park.
A New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service cull during 2006 and 2007 in Kosciuszko National Park, where there were an estimated 1700 horses in 2005, resulted in a reduction of 64 horses. The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service commenced a plan in 2007 to reduce brumby numbers by passive trapping in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. Over 60 brumbies captured in the Apsley River Gorge have now been re-homed.
In 2008 the third phase of an aerial culling of brumbies took place, by shooting 700 horses from a helicopter, in Carnarvon Gorge in Carnarvon National Park, Queensland.
Parks Victoria's 2021 Feral Horse Action Plan
On November 1, 2021, Parks Victoria announced its new plan for managing brumbies in the state's alpine national parks. Parks Victoria will remove the entire population of brumbies from the Bogong High Plains, and significantly increase the annual rate of removal of feral horses from the eastern Alps.
Under the new plan, aerial shooting will be used to cull brumbies if other methods fail to remove enough feral horses to reduce their ecological impact in the alpine region. Ground shooting by accredited operators will be continued in the latest plan, and authorities will establish and maintain small-fenced brumby exclusion sites to protect native species at high risk of extinction.
The plan will see the removal of up to 500 feral horses in the eastern Alpine region in its first year, and annual removal targets will be developed based on feral horse population surveys in the following years. Parks Victoria said a key component of the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 is to maximise rehoming opportunities for captured horses, with an expression of interest process open to suitable applicants. However, Parks Victoria acknowledged that previous efforts at feral horse resettlement had been relatively unsuccessful. Fertility control has been ruled out to manage the brumby population.
New South Wales National Parks & Wildlife Service 2021 draft Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan.
On October 1, 2021, New South Wales National Parks & Wildlife Service announced the release of its draft Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan. The proposed New South Wales plan would see horses culled or removed from some areas of the New South Wales park but allowed to remain in others.
Under the New South Wales plan, horses would be removed from 21 percent of the park and would continue to occupy 32 percent of the park but in reduced numbers. The 47 percent of Kosciuszko that is already free of feral horses would be maintained to remain so. The proposal says the government would reduce the number of horses to 3,000 through measures including ground shooting and aerial mustering. It rules out aerial shooting.