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Stand up for Kosciuszko National Park

If allowed to stand the decision to ‘protect’ feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park will inflict increasing damage on this fragile landscape.
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There is no doubt that the ‘wild brumbies’ of yesteryear have a place in history as part of Australia’s cultural heritage, but in modern-day Australia feral horses have no place in national parks, and should not be given special status at the expense of our threatened species.

Feral horses ringbark trees, overgraze alpine meadows and spread weeds in Kosciuszko National Park and other protected areas. They outcompete our high country wildlife, displacing and starving wombats, wallabies and other native animals.

Feral horses trample Kosciuszko National Park’s fragile landscape, destroying streams and alpine wetlands.

And yet on Wednesday 6 June the NSW Government passed the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Bill 2018, entrenching feral horses in one of Australia’s most important protected areas.

Our CEO Andrew Cox was in the NSW Parliament until midnight to witness the passing of this retrograde legislation, which protects feral horses in one of Australia’s most iconic national parks while overriding native wildlife protection.

The legislation ignores expert scientific advice and modern conservation thinking. It is the opposite of what we expect in a national park.

If allowed to stand this decision will cement long-term feral horse damage in sensitive alpine wetlands and plains. It will also lock in pain and suffering for the horses, which, as their numbers grow, will eat out the bush and then starve.

Feral animals such as horses and deer are inflicting increasing damage on national parks and other natural areas across eastern Australia. The NSW Government decision to protect feral horses at the expense of our national parks sets a dangerous precedent – do we now ignore or even encourage feral species in our parks?

We have been fighting hard to counter this dangerous pest management decision, working closely with other key environment groups and offering expert advice about the need for humane pest management in our national parks.

We need to continue this work, as well as fighting for better environmental biosecurity to keep dangerous new invasive species from entering Australia.

Can you help by making a tax-deductible donation?

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Reclaim Kosci

The Invasive Species Council is fighting back against the failure to protect Kosciuszko National Park from feral horses and is the lead organisation behind Reclaim Kosci, which is:

  • Raising awareness about the impacts of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
  • Championing the campaign to repeal the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018.
  • Seeking a substantial reduction in the feral horse population in Kosciuszko National Park through humane and effective means.

[button link=”https://reclaimkosci.org.au/”]Visit ReclaimKosci.org.au >>[/button]

Related Content

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Clear mandate for urgent action on feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]