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EMAIL YOUR LOCAL NSW ELECTION CANDIDATES

Tell your local NSW state election candidates that tackling invasive species is a vote winner!

At the end of January, while most of us were still in holiday mode, the NSW government ‘quietly’ released bad news about Kosciuszko National Park: feral horse numbers have dramatically increased by over 30% in just two years despite a commitment from the state government to rapidly reduce the population.

There are now more than 18,800 feral horses trampling the Snowies and endangering the unique wildlife that call the mountains home.

But with a state election this March, we have a window to spark change that protects nature in NSW. And this shocking news makes it more urgent than ever to take action.

Our expert team has written a thorough list of policy asks detailing exactly what the next NSW government needs to do to stamp out some of the worst invasive species impacts across the state – from tackling feral cats in strategic sites to preventing new weeds being sold in nurseries.

These policies are a roadmap to saving the NSW environment from some of its greatest threats that are driving extinctions and ecological devastation state-wide. But they will only become a reality if every key political candidate at the 2023 NSW state election hears about it from you!

We’ve been busy meeting with candidates and generating lots of media coverage on invasive species. But the only way we are going to get the next NSW government to take bold actions to tackle invasive species is if voters like you tell your local candidates to listen to the science and implement policies that make a difference. 

Help make that difference by getting a free email writing kit now. Upon submitting the form, you will instantly receive an email from us in your inbox that contains the email addresses of the people we’ve identified as key candidate(s) for your local NSW electorate and a step-by-step guide on how to send them a message.

This may look a bit different to other letter writing campaigns you have seen – that’s because sending an email from your own email address is powerful. We know from experience that when political candidates receive personal emails from people like you, they take it seriously. So please complete the form to get your writing kit and send a message now!

This campaign has now ended.

Thank you to the over 500 people who emailed their local NSW state election candidates calling for change to protect nature! Your emails had a BIG impact over course of the campaign.

If you’re still keen to have even more impact, you can find all of our current campaigns via our Take Action page.

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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]