The Invasive Species Council has congratulated Premier-elect Chris Minns on Labor’s decisive victory in the NSW election, saying that Labor has now been given a clear mandate for urgent action to reduce the more than 18,000 feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
Environment minister Plibersek has recognised the dismal failings of our national environmental laws. Her commitment to rewrite this law coupled with her commitment to zero new extinctions provides an exciting opportunity to establish a new era in nature conservation.
Biosecurity is an increasing feature in all our lives. The detection of varroa mites in 2022 saw the emergency destruction of tens of thousands of commercial and feral honey bee hives in NSW; a red fire ant outbreak in Queensland threatens our Aussie way of life forever; and foot-and-mouth disease looms on our border.
The Invasive Species Council welcomes a Senate inquiry initiated by ACT Senator David Pocock into the management of feral horses and other hard-hoofed invasive species in Australia’s national heritage-listed Australian Alps.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
Nature and livelihoods are on the line due to the pausing of feral animal control in all NSW national parks.
The NSW Government must fast-track its review on pest control in Kosciuszko National Park after pausing all shooting operations in the park due to an aerial deer cull last summer.
The release of feral horse removal data for Kosciuszko National Park since February 2022 highlights the need to significantly increase removal efforts to protect one of Australia’s most important national parks.
A few months ago we put out a call. Over 700 people responded, letting Kosci’s parkies know how much we value their work protecting native wildlife from the damage of feral horses.
In a setback to Australia’s iconic Wet Tropic World Heritage Area, the federal budget has failed to explicitly fund the successful yellow crazy ant control program run by the Wet Tropics Management Authority in Cairns.
A state action plan released last week by the Victorian Government acknowledges the devastating impact feral deer have on the state’s environment. Yet feral deer continue to be protected by law in Victoria as a game species for hunting.
Our election guide to what needs to be done to tackle the #1 threat to our environment.
The Tasmanian Government’s Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan, released Sunday, continues the protection of feral deer within hunting zones and designates deer hunting areas within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Feral horse story aired on ABC TV’s Four Corners reveals the need for the NSW Government to get on with the task of rapidly removing feral horses from Kosciuszko and show zero tolerance for any attempts to sabotage control efforts.
The Invasive Species Council has congratulated Premier-elect Chris Minns on Labor’s decisive victory in the NSW election, saying that Labor has now been given a clear mandate for urgent action to reduce the more than 18,000 feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
Environment minister Plibersek has recognised the dismal failings of our national environmental laws. Her commitment to rewrite this law coupled with her commitment to zero new extinctions provides an exciting opportunity to establish a new era in nature conservation.
Biosecurity is an increasing feature in all our lives. The detection of varroa mites in 2022 saw the emergency destruction of tens of thousands of commercial and feral honey bee hives in NSW; a red fire ant outbreak in Queensland threatens our Aussie way of life forever; and foot-and-mouth disease looms on our border.
The Invasive Species Council welcomes a Senate inquiry initiated by ACT Senator David Pocock into the management of feral horses and other hard-hoofed invasive species in Australia’s national heritage-listed Australian Alps.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
Nature and livelihoods are on the line due to the pausing of feral animal control in all NSW national parks.
The NSW Government must fast-track its review on pest control in Kosciuszko National Park after pausing all shooting operations in the park due to an aerial deer cull last summer.
The release of feral horse removal data for Kosciuszko National Park since February 2022 highlights the need to significantly increase removal efforts to protect one of Australia’s most important national parks.
A few months ago we put out a call. Over 700 people responded, letting Kosci’s parkies know how much we value their work protecting native wildlife from the damage of feral horses.
In a setback to Australia’s iconic Wet Tropic World Heritage Area, the federal budget has failed to explicitly fund the successful yellow crazy ant control program run by the Wet Tropics Management Authority in Cairns.
A state action plan released last week by the Victorian Government acknowledges the devastating impact feral deer have on the state’s environment. Yet feral deer continue to be protected by law in Victoria as a game species for hunting.
Our election guide to what needs to be done to tackle the #1 threat to our environment.
The Tasmanian Government’s Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan, released Sunday, continues the protection of feral deer within hunting zones and designates deer hunting areas within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Feral horse story aired on ABC TV’s Four Corners reveals the need for the NSW Government to get on with the task of rapidly removing feral horses from Kosciuszko and show zero tolerance for any attempts to sabotage control efforts.
The Invasive Species Council has congratulated Premier-elect Chris Minns on Labor’s decisive victory in the NSW election, saying that Labor has now been given a clear mandate for urgent action to reduce the more than 18,000 feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
Environment minister Plibersek has recognised the dismal failings of our national environmental laws. Her commitment to rewrite this law coupled with her commitment to zero new extinctions provides an exciting opportunity to establish a new era in nature conservation.
Biosecurity is an increasing feature in all our lives. The detection of varroa mites in 2022 saw the emergency destruction of tens of thousands of commercial and feral honey bee hives in NSW; a red fire ant outbreak in Queensland threatens our Aussie way of life forever; and foot-and-mouth disease looms on our border.
The Invasive Species Council welcomes a Senate inquiry initiated by ACT Senator David Pocock into the management of feral horses and other hard-hoofed invasive species in Australia’s national heritage-listed Australian Alps.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
Nature and livelihoods are on the line due to the pausing of feral animal control in all NSW national parks.
The NSW Government must fast-track its review on pest control in Kosciuszko National Park after pausing all shooting operations in the park due to an aerial deer cull last summer.
The release of feral horse removal data for Kosciuszko National Park since February 2022 highlights the need to significantly increase removal efforts to protect one of Australia’s most important national parks.
A few months ago we put out a call. Over 700 people responded, letting Kosci’s parkies know how much we value their work protecting native wildlife from the damage of feral horses.
In a setback to Australia’s iconic Wet Tropic World Heritage Area, the federal budget has failed to explicitly fund the successful yellow crazy ant control program run by the Wet Tropics Management Authority in Cairns.
A state action plan released last week by the Victorian Government acknowledges the devastating impact feral deer have on the state’s environment. Yet feral deer continue to be protected by law in Victoria as a game species for hunting.
Our election guide to what needs to be done to tackle the #1 threat to our environment.
The Tasmanian Government’s Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan, released Sunday, continues the protection of feral deer within hunting zones and designates deer hunting areas within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Feral horse story aired on ABC TV’s Four Corners reveals the need for the NSW Government to get on with the task of rapidly removing feral horses from Kosciuszko and show zero tolerance for any attempts to sabotage control efforts.
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Our protected areas are being trashed, trampled, choked and polluted by an onslaught of invaders. Invasive species are already the overwhelming driver of our animal extinction rate, and are expected to cause 75 of the next 100 extinctions.
But you can help to turn this around and create a wildlife revival in Australia.
From numbats to night parrots, a tax-deductible donation today can help defend our wildlife against the threat of invasive weeds, predators, and diseases.
As the only national advocacy environment group dedicated to stopping this mega threat, your gift will make a big difference.
A silent crisis is unfolding across Australia. Every year, billions of native animals are hunted and killed by cats and foxes. Fire ants continue to spread and threaten human health. And the deadly strain of bird flu looms on the horizon. Your donation today will be used to put the invasive species threat in the media, make invasive species a government priority, ensure governments take rapid action to protect nature and our remarkable native wildlife from invasives-led extinction, death and destruction.
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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.
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.
