source: Feral horse population out of control in the Alps: 25,000 run free
The population of feral horses running wild in the Australian Alps has exploded to 25,000.
With the growth in wild horse herds in the NSW and Victorian high country more than doubling in just five years, scientists fear Australia’s most-important water catchment is at risk.
The Murray-Darling River system relies on about 30 per cent of its water seeping and flowing from the Australian Alps.
The majority of the horses - more than 15,000 - are in the north Kosciuszko National Park, according to the 2019 Australian Alps Feral Horse Aerial Survey. The Murrumbidgee River springs from this area. Collapsed and compacted river banks caused by flailing hooves is a common sight.
More than 8000 wild horses were also detected in an area running south from Mt Kosciuszko and across the Victorian-NSW border, which is where the Murray River begins.
When The Age/The Sydney Morning Herald flew by helicopter to the remote source of the Murray late last month, evidence of damage was clear. Moss beds at the very start of Australia’s only great river had been trashed and “pugged” by horse hooves, preventing water from moving.
The feral horse survey was carried out in autumn this year on behalf of the Australian Alps National Parks Co-operative Management Program working with Parks Victoria, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the ACT Parks and Conservation Service.
With the program expecting a backlash from pro-brumby groups, the survey was subjected to independent peer review by CSIRO Australia and internationally respected experts from St Andrews University, Scotland.
The result was a population estimate of wild horses in the alps that had increased from 9187 in 2014 to 25,318 in 2019: an increase of 23 per cent each year.
Although Victoria has a program of culling wild horses, the NSW government controversially passed legislation in 2018 that granted heritage status to wild horses, effectively protecting them from large-scale culling.
The legislation was championed by the NSW Nationals leader, John Barilaro - whose constituency of Monaro covers the park.
With Barilaro and the NSW Liberal Environment Minister, Matt Kean, at odds over the issue, Kean reacted to the survey this week by declaring the number of wild horses was “unacceptable and unsustainable for our natural environment”.
“The NSW government will take steps to reduce the number of horses in the national park in a humane way, working with the community and scientific advisory committees,” he said.
The Victorian Environment Minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the survey results “are why our planned feral horse control programs, which protect the threatened Australian Alps environment, are so important”.
“Feral horses are not a natural part of the Australian Alps environment – they cause damage and threaten the biodiversity of the unique landscape,” D’Ambrosio said.
Invasive Species Council chief executive Andrew Cox said it was rare to see a wild horse in the mountains in the 1970s, but “an out of control horse plague” was now trashing the natural values at Kosciuszko.
“Do we watch it be ruined, or manage it as a National Park?” Cox asked.
The NSW “Brumbies Bill” effectively killed a 2016 draft plan by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage that recommended cutting the park’s horse population to 600 over 20 years.
But despite the dramatic increase in numbers since then, only 99 horses have been trapped and removed this year. Park management announced at the end of last month that following concerns about danger to campers, 67 stallions, 24 mares and eight yearlings were removed.
The Australian Capital Territory, whose alpine and water-catchment region joins the Kosciuszko park, has a policy of shooting wild horses to protect Canberra’s water supply.
The ACT Environment Minister, Mick Gentleman, said feral horses “do not recognise state boundaries and the scientific evidence is clear – heavy hoofed pests such as feral horses are damaging the landscape”.
The Kosciuszko National Park’s management announced recently that aerial shooting of wild pigs and deer was to begin this week, and other feral animals such as foxes, goats, and wild dogs would also be targeted. But feral horses would be spared.
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