The Invasive Species Council has condemned a growing misinformation campaign surrounding feral horse management in Kosciuszko National Park, warning that attempts to undermine science-based control programs risk setting a dangerous precedent for environmental protection across Australia.
Invasive Species Council CEO Jack Gough said a small but vocal group of pro-brumby activists and sympathetic politicians were distorting the debate and distracting from the real issue – protecting one of Australia’s most environmentally significant national parks from an invasive species causing extensive damage.
‘This debate has become detached from reality. A national park is being damaged by an invasive species and somehow the controversy is about whether we should stop it.
‘What is striking is just how broad the support for feral horse control actually is. The conservative independent members for Wagga Wagga and Murray, the Liberal member for Albury and the Labor member for Monaro all support reducing feral horse numbers in Kosciuszko National Park. This is not a left versus right issue. It is a practical environmental management issue.
‘The RSPCA Australia, the Australian Academy of Science and leading environmental and animal welfare experts all recognise that professional aerial control is sometimes necessary to manage large invasive animal populations humanely and effectively.
‘Parks staff have faced abuse and death threats simply for doing their jobs. Local people who have spoken out about the impacts of feral horses on Country have also been subjected to racism, intimidation and death threats. That is disgusting. There is no place in this debate for threatening rangers, scientists, public servants or First Nations people who are standing up for Country.
‘National parks exist to protect Australia’s unique wildlife and landscapes. They were not created to preserve invasive animals.
‘If governments become too frightened to act whenever a noisy campaign emerges, every invasive species control program in Australia becomes vulnerable.
‘Today it’s horses. Tomorrow it’s deer, pigs or any other invasive species causing environmental damage. That should concern anyone who cares about Australia’s wildlife, landscapes and rivers.’
Wiradjuri man and Invasive Species Council Indigenous Ambassador Richard Swain said:
‘Kosciuszko is not just a postcard and it is not just a playground. It is living Country.
‘These mountains hold stories, water, life and responsibility. When the headwaters are trampled and the wetlands are smashed, that damage flows all the way down Country.
‘People talk about heritage, but they ignore the oldest heritage on this continent. They ignore the rivers, the bogs, the native animals and the cultural responsibility to care for this place.
‘You cannot love Kosciuszko and look away from what is happening to it.
‘The horses might look beautiful to some people, but beauty does not make an animal belong in a fragile alpine wetland.’
Australian National University Professor Jamie Pittock said many of the claims being used to attack feral horse control had been debunked years ago.
‘The science on feral horse impacts in Kosciuszko National Park has been clear for years.
‘Claims that feral horses are not damaging alpine wetlands, streams and threatened species habitat were tested and debunked long ago.
‘We have known for years that even relatively small numbers of feral horses can damage sensitive alpine areas. The idea that governments should delay action because of recycled misinformation is deeply irresponsible.
‘The longer effective control is delayed, the more damage is done and the harder and more expensive recovery becomes.’
Reclaim Kosci volunteer Linda Groom, who helped lead a NSW Parliament petition attracting more than 10,000 signatures in support of protecting Kosciuszko National Park, said:
‘Most of the biggest online petitions containing misinformation and misleading information opposing feral horse control attract signatures from all over the world, particularly the United States, from people who have never visited Kosciuszko National Park and will never see the damage being done.
‘It’s easy to click a button online after seeing a photo of a horse. It’s much harder to spend years watching alpine wetlands, streams and native wildlife decline because politicians refuse to act.
‘National parks should not be managed according to who can generate the most clicks from overseas. They should be managed according to science, evidence and the long-term health of the places they were created to protect.’
Background:
- In 2025, the NSW Parliament repealed the controversial Wild Horse Heritage Act following a sustained community campaign that included a petition to the NSW Parliament signed by more than 10,000 NSW-based people calling for stronger protection of Kosciuszko National Park. The repeal bill passed with cross-party support from Labor, Liberal, the Greens and Independents.
- The current management plan for feral horses, which was introduced by the former Liberal Government, imposes a legal obligation on NSW National Parks to carry out control operations to reduce the feral horse population to 3,000 across 32% of Kosciuszko National Park by 2027.
- The 2023 amendment to allow aerial shooting was supported by the RSPCA NSW, the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Veterinary Association, the Public Service Association of NSW, the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, the Brungle Tumut Local Aboriginal Land Council, the NSW Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee, the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Community Advisory Panel, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council and the Southern Ranges NPWS Regional Advisory Committee.
- The Australian Senate inquiry report into the Impacts and management of feral horses in the Australian Alps was released in October 2023 and recommended that:
- Aerial shooting should be adopted for control of feral horses in NSW (adopted by the NSW Government in October 2023)
- Habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral horses should be listed as a Key Threatening Process under national environmental law (Agreed to in principle in federal government response)
- The federal government should provide additional funding to assist NSW and Victoria to control feral horses (Not yet agreed to by the Albanese Government)
- National Parks staff undertake feral horse control work professionally, humanely, and safely. This has been confirmed by two independent animal welfare reviews (here and here) of NSW feral horse control operations which found that:
- Animal welfare outcomes are prioritised and are better than predicted, as confirmed by independent veterinary observations.
- There was no evidence of non-kill shots having been taken.
- Standard Operating Procedures are rigorously followed, and all personnel have welfare as a priority.
- Australia’s alpine plants and animals did not evolve with heavy, hard-hoofed feral horses. They are not native and cause enormous damage to sensitive habitat, degrading and polluting alpine streams and driving native species towards extinction.
- The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee have described feral horses as an ‘imminent threat’ to the Albanese government’s commitment to prevent new extinctions of plants and animals and stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
- 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 the Australian Alps. A recent report commissioned by the NSW government supports this view.
- Under the current NSW feral horse management plan, National Parks and Wildlife Service is legally required to reduce feral horse numbers to 3,000 animals across designated retention areas covering about 32% of Kosciuszko National Park by 30 June 2027.
- The plan remains in force while the NSW Government develops a replacement management plan following the repeal of the Wild Horse Heritage Act.
- Hundreds of thousands of other feral animals, like pigs and deer, are routinely culled using aerial shooting as part of normal invasive species management across NSW, including in Kosciuszko National Park, by National Parks, Local Land Services and private landholders.
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