Reining in feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park
14 January, 2021
This report applies an economic lens to the impacts growing numbers of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park are having on the NSW economy.
This report applies an economic lens to the impacts growing numbers of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park are having on the NSW economy.
A full appreciation of the risks and costs of expanding fallow deer populations and distribution should drive a new approach to deer management in Tasmania.
This report by Tim Low explores the health and environmental implications of using glyphosate in Australia on crops and to stop weeds invading native ecosystems.
Our submission to the Victorian Parliament’s Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline in Victoria includes recommendations that would see strong progress towards reducing the impacts of invasive species.
This fact sheet on the impact of pet cats on Australian wildlife shows that pet cats allowed to roam and hunt are a major threat to local wildlife.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has been asked to assist in addressing the growing threat of feral deer in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
The introduction of cats to Australia has been a disaster not just for our wildlife, but has impacts on human health as well.
An analysis of the 2019-20 NSW bushfires on Kosciuszko National Park suggests that most areas home to high numbers of feral horses were unburnt.
This document provides a status report on invasive yellow crazy ant infestations in the Townsville area and options for their management. It arose from a roundtable meeting held in Townsville in November 2019.
The interim review of the EPBC Act is a straight-talking critique that identified major weaknesses in the Act and proposes promising remedies.
Domestic cats were introduced to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788. They are now one of the most damaging invasive species worldwide, and in Australia have been a major driver of mammal extinctions.
Our joint submission to the Australian Government’s inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats includes strengthening regulations for cat-free islands.
A report into the ethical considerations of using 1080 to control feral animals has found the conservation benefits necessitate its use until an alternative is available.
Submitted: April 2020
Australia’s system for abating major threats to biodiversity: A Priority for reform of the EPBC Act. A joint submission by the Invasive Species Council and Bush Heritage Australia.
A letter to the Prime Minister of Australia endorsed by 80 landcare, farming and conservation groups that provides a bridge to recovery jobs package to help with the recovery once it starts.
This report applies an economic lens to the impacts growing numbers of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park are having on the NSW economy.
A full appreciation of the risks and costs of expanding fallow deer populations and distribution should drive a new approach to deer management in Tasmania.
This report by Tim Low explores the health and environmental implications of using glyphosate in Australia on crops and to stop weeds invading native ecosystems.
Our submission to the Victorian Parliament’s Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline in Victoria includes recommendations that would see strong progress towards reducing the impacts of invasive species.
This fact sheet on the impact of pet cats on Australian wildlife shows that pet cats allowed to roam and hunt are a major threat to local wildlife.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has been asked to assist in addressing the growing threat of feral deer in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
The introduction of cats to Australia has been a disaster not just for our wildlife, but has impacts on human health as well.
An analysis of the 2019-20 NSW bushfires on Kosciuszko National Park suggests that most areas home to high numbers of feral horses were unburnt.
This document provides a status report on invasive yellow crazy ant infestations in the Townsville area and options for their management. It arose from a roundtable meeting held in Townsville in November 2019.
The interim review of the EPBC Act is a straight-talking critique that identified major weaknesses in the Act and proposes promising remedies.
Domestic cats were introduced to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788. They are now one of the most damaging invasive species worldwide, and in Australia have been a major driver of mammal extinctions.
Our joint submission to the Australian Government’s inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats includes strengthening regulations for cat-free islands.
A report into the ethical considerations of using 1080 to control feral animals has found the conservation benefits necessitate its use until an alternative is available.
Submitted: April 2020
Australia’s system for abating major threats to biodiversity: A Priority for reform of the EPBC Act. A joint submission by the Invasive Species Council and Bush Heritage Australia.
A letter to the Prime Minister of Australia endorsed by 80 landcare, farming and conservation groups that provides a bridge to recovery jobs package to help with the recovery once it starts.
This report applies an economic lens to the impacts growing numbers of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park are having on the NSW economy.
A full appreciation of the risks and costs of expanding fallow deer populations and distribution should drive a new approach to deer management in Tasmania.
This report by Tim Low explores the health and environmental implications of using glyphosate in Australia on crops and to stop weeds invading native ecosystems.
Our submission to the Victorian Parliament’s Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline in Victoria includes recommendations that would see strong progress towards reducing the impacts of invasive species.
This fact sheet on the impact of pet cats on Australian wildlife shows that pet cats allowed to roam and hunt are a major threat to local wildlife.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has been asked to assist in addressing the growing threat of feral deer in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
The introduction of cats to Australia has been a disaster not just for our wildlife, but has impacts on human health as well.
An analysis of the 2019-20 NSW bushfires on Kosciuszko National Park suggests that most areas home to high numbers of feral horses were unburnt.
This document provides a status report on invasive yellow crazy ant infestations in the Townsville area and options for their management. It arose from a roundtable meeting held in Townsville in November 2019.
The interim review of the EPBC Act is a straight-talking critique that identified major weaknesses in the Act and proposes promising remedies.
Domestic cats were introduced to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788. They are now one of the most damaging invasive species worldwide, and in Australia have been a major driver of mammal extinctions.
Our joint submission to the Australian Government’s inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats includes strengthening regulations for cat-free islands.
A report into the ethical considerations of using 1080 to control feral animals has found the conservation benefits necessitate its use until an alternative is available.
Submitted: April 2020
Australia’s system for abating major threats to biodiversity: A Priority for reform of the EPBC Act. A joint submission by the Invasive Species Council and Bush Heritage Australia.
A letter to the Prime Minister of Australia endorsed by 80 landcare, farming and conservation groups that provides a bridge to recovery jobs package to help with the recovery once it starts.
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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.
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.
