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50,000 and more!

This year, you and I have been at the heart of one of the biggest issues for nature. By giving nature a voice, we’re making a difference together.

Whether it’s stopping feral horses and deer from destroying our Alps and protected areas, galvanising action to prevent cats from killing wildlife, or making elections really count for nature – thousands of supporters like you, acting together, are having a real-world impact for Australia’s wildlife.

Together we are holding governments to account, ensuring nature gets the investment it needs and creating lasting change.

Issue by issue, action by action, we give our wildlife a chance to survive and revive. Let’s celebrate all we’ve achieved for nature!

A snapshot of what we’ve achieved together in in the last 12 months.

Wins for nature

More than 50,000 people signed our petition calling on the Australian government to increase funding and take urgent action to stop invasive species-led destruction, deaths and extinctions. 

More than 1,600 actions were taken by supporters to end the culling pause in NSW in November, which was a knee-jerk reaction by the NSW government to pressure from opponents to feral horse control. 

We escalated feral horse management in the Snowies in the media, leading to a national senate inquiry into feral horses in the Australian Alps. Hundreds of supporters made unique submissions to the inquiry which is ongoing.

After years of work, we won an ambitious draft national management plan for feral deer. Almost 1,200 people made individual submissions to the plan via our website to ensure the National Feral Deer Action Plan will be successful. 

To save the surviving bilbies, numbats, night parrots, and all of the other native animals we love in this country 3,200 people put their paws on the map and took the pledge to show widespread support for more action on domestic and feral cats. 

We secured stronger protections for our wildlife with the Australian government committing to a national response plan for avian influenza in wildlife.

In July 2022, we delivered 700 of your letters of support to park rangers and staff who are protecting Kosciuszko from feral horses.

Making elections count for nature

National: In 2022 we won federal commitments of $24.8M for Queensland’s yellow crazy ant eradication programs and $9.8M to tackle gamba grass and the doubling of Indigenous rangers. 

NSW: We won commitments from the incoming NSW Labor government to manage invasive species. This includes:

  • 100 new National Parks and Wildlife Service pest and weed officers, 
  • an independent biosecurity commission, 
  • a permitted list to stop the sale of weedy plants through nurseries, 
  • extra resources to reduce feral horse numbers in KNP, 
  • $10 million to tackle weeds and pests on government land and neighbouring property.

VIC: We secured an ongoing commitment from the Victorian government to control feral horses in national parks in the High Country.

Thank you!

The actions we take, no matter how big or small, catalyse the change that nature needs.

Together we are safeguarding Australia’s wildlife from the relentless assault of invasive species. 

As we pursue a better future for all of us, thank you. As the only Australian environment organisation focused on invasive species, we can successfully stop invasive species-led extinctions and lead a wildlife revival.

Related Content

700 letters of support delivered to Kosci’s parkies
Invasive species federal election feature image.
What the election result means for the #1 threat to Australia’s environment
NSW Labor commitment to 100 new National Parks pest and weed officers welcomed

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Save the Snowies

Join thousands of Australians who are standing up for Kosciuszko National Park!

The NSW government is one step away from allowing aerial control of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park. This is huge news and a crucial step for our threatened native wildlife and the fragile alpine ecosystems they call home.

Take action now

Hear from us when it matters

Your support to protect critically endangered and vulnerable species from extinction is vital. Together, we can ensure governments prioritise action on invasive species and protect our wildlife and iconic places.

The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.

The Invasive Species Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land and sea. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

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About Us

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]