Brumby breaker: Horseman aims to stop cull and tame animals with help of disadvantaged youth
A MAN from the Snowy River area wants to save condemned wild horses and help disadvantaged kids as well in a bold scheme being funded online.
NSW
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A NEW man from the Snowy River wants to ride to the rescue of its brumbies.
The wild horses of the Kosciuszko National Park are literally in the firing line since the state government announced the population of 6000 needed to be culled to 600 by shooting and trapping them.
“I don’t believe that I can save all the horses in the Snowy Mountains, but I do believe I can help save some of the population, and help some disadvantaged kids as well,” horseman Greg Powell said.
With the support of his mate, world-famous actor Jack Thompson, Powell is looking to round up 100 horses a year from the alpine parklands and bring them on to his property in Cooma.
From there he would match the horses with troubled youth, who would help break in the brumbies before re-homing them.
“I don’t believe in mustering horses into yards and then shooting them,” Mr Powell said.
The project would more than double the number of horses and troubled teens he pairs up through registered charity the Kalandan Foundation.
The charity has helped hundreds of kids who are linked to Glebe Youth Services and Youth Off The Streets.
He is hoping to raise $500,000 to fund the expansion.
“For the program we would catch appropriate horses, such as younger ones,” he said.
“To take on additional brumbies we need to lease more property and there are significant costs in infrastructure and equipment and in caring for and training the horses.
The more support we receive, the more horses we can save and each horse we save will make a significant difference to a troubled young person’s life.”
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service’s Draft Wild Horse Management Plan 2016 found the horses occupied 48 per cent of the park, with 26 car crashes involving brumbies since 2003.
Scientists say the brumbies, a foreign species introduced into the Snowy Mountains from the 1930s, have also caused widespread environmental damage.
The NSW policy to shoot more brumbies would bring the state in line with the ACT, whose environmental officers already have the power to shoot the animals.
Jack Thompson, who played Clancy of the Overflow in the 1982 film The Man From Snowy River, said he understood why the government needed to cull the brumbies, but it should be done humanely.
He said Greg Powell’s ability with horses was unparalleled.
“Greg is a genuine horse whisperer,” Thompson said.
“I’ve seen him meet a brumby in a yard and within 20 minutes he is riding on its back or walking by its side.”
* To help save brumbies by donating to Greg Powell’s foundation, visit www.gofundme.com/wildhorseswildKids
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