By Nichole Overall

Aerial culling of brumbies in the Koscziuscko National Park, authorised by the NSW Labor government, has sparked a protest seeing horses and riders descend on the front lawns of Parliament House on Tuesday morning.

It comes in the wake of the introduction in October of the aerial culling of horses in the National Park. Brumbies advocates argue this is in contravention of the Wild Horse Management Plan legislated in 2021.

The legislation requires that numbers of brumbies in the 690,000-hectare park are no greater than 3000 by June 2027. Claims on how many horses are currently in the area vary dramatically.

Methodology employed but the NSW government and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) estimates the count at between 12,000 and 21,000. NPWS has stated more than 5000 horses have been killed through aerial culling.

Brumbies groups and proponents organised an independent count funded through an online campaign raising $80,000. These results point to far fewer horses than the figures proposed by the government.

According to long-time brumbies supporter present for the protest, former member for Monaro Peter Cochran, another of the significant concerns is that aerial culling wasn’t included in the original management plan.

“The plan provides for trapping, re-homing and ground shooting as necessary,” he said.

“Aerial culling was rejected at the time and continues to be rejected by the wider community. It’s cruel, inhumane and when this method was last used in the Guy Fawkes National Park disaster in 2000, the RSPCA itself sought to take the NSW Labor government of the time to court.”

“How the carcasses of the animals are being dealt with is also a seriously concerning part of all this.”

Recent inquiries at the state and federal level, including on the role of the NSW RSPCA, have also produced varying outcomes and responses. One of the recommendations being considered by the federal government is a further reduction on the agreed 3000 figure.

“One of the many incredibly distressing elements in this debacle has seen hundreds of horses taken to an illegally knackery at Wagga instead of being re-homed,” said Mr Cochran.

“Heritage brumbies can be retained and managed in the park while also taking into account environmental preservation, but it’s clear the real plan of this government is the eradication of the horses entirely.”

Other methodologies proposed for horse management includes exclusionary fencing and the potential for fertility control. None of these have been implemented.