Brumbies in Snowy River area in the crosshairs in bid to save park

ALMOST the entire population of brumbies in the Snowy Mountains is set to be culled under a controversial NSW government plan to save the Kosciuszko National Park.

Wild brumbies have been a factor in 26 car crashes since 2003 in Kosciuszko National Park. Picture: Peter Lorimer

ALMOST the entire population of brumbies in the Snowy Mountains will be culled under a controversial NSW government plan to save the Kosciuszko National Park.

The park’s 6000-strong wild horse population will be reduced by half within the next decade with the animals shot, trapped or subjected to fertility control measures.

The culling will continue until the population is down to just 600 within the next two decades, with the horses kept within three low-impact areas within the alpine park.

Traditional horse mustering methods advocated by local horsemen and women such as roping and “brumby running” have been ruled out..

The proposal is contained in the long-awaited Kosciuszko Draft Wild Horse Management Plan 2016 to be placed on public exhibition today.

The issue has long posed a headache for the NSW Nationals Parks and Wildlife Service, which had been restricted to using passive trapping methods that have allowed the population in the UNESCO-listed reserve to explode.

While the plan also includes efforts to rehome brumbies that are not killed, take-up rates of wild horses in the past have been low, with the majority sent to the slaughter yards.

Aerial shooting remains banned after a botched slaughter of more than 600 horses on the north coast.

Traditional horse mustering methods advocated by local horsemen and women such as roping and “brumby running” have been ruled out.

Introduced into the Snowy Mountains in the early 1930s, the brumbies entered Australian folklore with poems such as The Man From Snowy River.

NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman said wild horses would always be part of the cultural heritage of the Snowy Mountains, but the numbers were unsustainable with the fragile alpine and sub-alpine ­environment being damaged.

“Wild horse management is an emotive and complex issue. There are diverse opinions in the community. It is clear, however, that the broader community values the unique environmental values of Kosciuszko National Park and looks to NPWS to protect these values,” he said.

The plan said the horses ­occupied 48 per cent of the park, with 26 car crashes involving brumbies since 2003.