Feral horse aerial culling trial could help save the Snowies
2 February, 2023
The Invasive Species Council is today calling on the NSW government to commit to a trial of aerial culling of feral horses in the Snowy Mountains.
The Invasive Species Council is today calling on the NSW government to commit to a trial of aerial culling of feral horses in the Snowy Mountains.
The Invasive Species Council is concerned by today’s announcement from the NSW government that there has been a 30% increase in the number of feral horses degrading and trashing the Snowy Mountains in the past two years. This is despite a year of action to reduce numbers by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service under the Government’s 2021 management plan which aims to reduce feral horse numbers to 3,000 by 2027.
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.
Today’s release of a draft national plan to tackle the exploding numbers of feral deer across Australia has been welcomed by the Invasive Species Council.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the Albanese government’s response to the independent review of Australia’s national environmental law, but warns that zero extinctions cannot be achieved unless more work is done to fix and resource Australia’s threat abatement system.
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.
Some academics have claimed that Indigenous people welcome introduced species and do not want them controlled. The Indigenous chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment Report can’t be reconciled with these comments.
Australia’s Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has pledged to stop new extinctions. But which species are most at risk of going extinct and what will it take to keep them safe?
Australia has an urgent invasive species problem. Invasive species pose the greatest threat to our native plants and animals – even greater than climate change.
A visit to New Zealand is to witness a growing movement targeting the killing of pest animals and the excitement in seeing the return of birds and their songs.
Nature and livelihoods are on the line due to the pausing of feral animal control in all NSW national parks.
A commitment to tackle a major invasive ant risk in the Townsville and Cairns regions has been locked in by the Albanese Government in the federal budget.
Today’s announcement that Australia is adopting a zero extinction target as part of its Threatened Species Action Plan is very welcome news.
Everyone will lose out from the Rockliff government’s Implementation Strategy for the Management of Fallow Deer released yesterday.
This video, produced by the Invasive Species Council, tells the frightening story of the rise and rise of feral deer in Victoria.
The Invasive Species Council is today calling on the NSW government to commit to a trial of aerial culling of feral horses in the Snowy Mountains.
The Invasive Species Council is concerned by today’s announcement from the NSW government that there has been a 30% increase in the number of feral horses degrading and trashing the Snowy Mountains in the past two years. This is despite a year of action to reduce numbers by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service under the Government’s 2021 management plan which aims to reduce feral horse numbers to 3,000 by 2027.
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.
Today’s release of a draft national plan to tackle the exploding numbers of feral deer across Australia has been welcomed by the Invasive Species Council.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the Albanese government’s response to the independent review of Australia’s national environmental law, but warns that zero extinctions cannot be achieved unless more work is done to fix and resource Australia’s threat abatement system.
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.
Some academics have claimed that Indigenous people welcome introduced species and do not want them controlled. The Indigenous chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment Report can’t be reconciled with these comments.
Australia’s Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has pledged to stop new extinctions. But which species are most at risk of going extinct and what will it take to keep them safe?
Australia has an urgent invasive species problem. Invasive species pose the greatest threat to our native plants and animals – even greater than climate change.
A visit to New Zealand is to witness a growing movement targeting the killing of pest animals and the excitement in seeing the return of birds and their songs.
Nature and livelihoods are on the line due to the pausing of feral animal control in all NSW national parks.
A commitment to tackle a major invasive ant risk in the Townsville and Cairns regions has been locked in by the Albanese Government in the federal budget.
Today’s announcement that Australia is adopting a zero extinction target as part of its Threatened Species Action Plan is very welcome news.
Everyone will lose out from the Rockliff government’s Implementation Strategy for the Management of Fallow Deer released yesterday.
This video, produced by the Invasive Species Council, tells the frightening story of the rise and rise of feral deer in Victoria.
The Invasive Species Council is today calling on the NSW government to commit to a trial of aerial culling of feral horses in the Snowy Mountains.
The Invasive Species Council is concerned by today’s announcement from the NSW government that there has been a 30% increase in the number of feral horses degrading and trashing the Snowy Mountains in the past two years. This is despite a year of action to reduce numbers by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service under the Government’s 2021 management plan which aims to reduce feral horse numbers to 3,000 by 2027.
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.
Today’s release of a draft national plan to tackle the exploding numbers of feral deer across Australia has been welcomed by the Invasive Species Council.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the Albanese government’s response to the independent review of Australia’s national environmental law, but warns that zero extinctions cannot be achieved unless more work is done to fix and resource Australia’s threat abatement system.
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.
Some academics have claimed that Indigenous people welcome introduced species and do not want them controlled. The Indigenous chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment Report can’t be reconciled with these comments.
Australia’s Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has pledged to stop new extinctions. But which species are most at risk of going extinct and what will it take to keep them safe?
Australia has an urgent invasive species problem. Invasive species pose the greatest threat to our native plants and animals – even greater than climate change.
A visit to New Zealand is to witness a growing movement targeting the killing of pest animals and the excitement in seeing the return of birds and their songs.
Nature and livelihoods are on the line due to the pausing of feral animal control in all NSW national parks.
A commitment to tackle a major invasive ant risk in the Townsville and Cairns regions has been locked in by the Albanese Government in the federal budget.
Today’s announcement that Australia is adopting a zero extinction target as part of its Threatened Species Action Plan is very welcome news.
Everyone will lose out from the Rockliff government’s Implementation Strategy for the Management of Fallow Deer released yesterday.
This video, produced by the Invasive Species Council, tells the frightening story of the rise and rise of feral deer in Victoria.
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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. The Invasive Species Council supports voting ‘YES’ for a Voice to Parliament.
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.
