Time is running out for wild brumbies made famous by The Man From Snowy River movie

TO SHOOT or not to shoot. For the estimated 6000 wild horses roaming Kosciuszko National Park, time is running out as their fate divides the NSW Government.

• About 6000 wild brumbies roam the Kosciuszko National Park

• Radical options are being looked at to stop the brumby numbers from increasing

• Ground shooting, helicopter mustering and sterilisation are being considered

• GALLERY: Exclusive pictures of the wild brumbies

TO SHOOT or not to shoot? It’s the question that will determine the fate of the estimated 6000 wild horses that roam Kosciuszko National Park.

But the debate on how to effectively control the rapidly rising numbers of brumbies in the area has become so passionate it has even divided the NSW Government.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) claims the increasing population and competition for grazing areas was pushing the wild horses into sensitive wilderness areas, threatening native broad-toothed rats, alpine water skinks and the endangered sphagnum bog.

Trapping and removal programs have largely failed to curb the rising numbers, with the population estimated to be increasing by 20 per cent a year, and more radical ­approaches are being considered.

Ground shooting, helicopter mustering ­together with sterilisation are among the ­options on the table, with an independent panel of scientists and vets exploring all measures.

With the five-year horse management plan under review, the Government is also under pressure to adopt a long-term strategy given the $3.3 million cost to taxpayers over the past decade of reviews and temporary removal programs.

Landholders, such as former Nationals MP Peter Cochran, who wants traditional ­removal methods such as brumby running ­returned, fear more drastic measures will be implemented.

“There has been sufficient pressure put on the Government by the environment movement and others that they are going to do a one-off wholesale shootout,” he said.

“It’s a gut feeling but I don’t think they can see a way around it. If they do, they’ll regret it. We’re ready to fight.”

EXCLUSIVE GALLERY: WILD BRUMBIES ROAMING NATIONAL PARK

Horse estimates vary from 4000 to 8000, with numbers rising despite the 2003 fires killing several thousand and an ongoing ­removal program.

When The Sunday Telegraph flew over the park, more than 300 were sighted in separate herds in less than hour.

NPWS project officer and wild horse manager Rob Gibbs said the current trapping program was failing to keep numbers down, while also being expensive at around $1000 per horse.

In the past five years, 2043 have been ­removed with homes found for 567. The rest have been trucked to local slaughter yards.

Several stakeholders The Sunday Telegraph spoke with claim forcing brumbies onto trucks is cruel, with the horses better off ­euthanased on site.

“The issue that we have with passive trapping is that it is not keeping up with population increases,” Mr Gibbs said.

“We also have concerns with the humaneness of passive trapping, particularly when a large percentage of those horses end up being transported to abattoir for slaughter. As for rehoming them, there’s just not the demand.

“That then forces us into having to transport horses large distances to have them ­euthanased, which we have concerns about.”

Some park neighbours have taken matters into their own hands, with several brumbies recently found shot dead near the Victorian border.

Mr Cochran, who conducts horse riding treks through the park, said there wouldn’t be a problem had traditional methods such as riders rounding up brumbies not been outlawed.

“They’re talking about doing this with helicopters, but this has limited success in an area like this because they get in among the bushes,” he said.

“I see no reason why brumby runners shouldn’t do the same thing.’’

After initially entertaining a lifting of the ban on aerial culling that was put in place after a botched cull in Guy Fawkes National Park, the Government has declared it will stay in place.

NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman, who is planning a site visit before a draft plan of management is released next year, said there was a need to protect the park.

However, Regional Development Minister John Barilaro, whose Monaro electorate lies in the heart of the Snowy Mountains, wants a “non-lethal” approach.

“Brumbies are so strongly linked to our heritage that the thought of them being slaughtered makes me sick,” he told parliament earlier this year.

THE OPTIONS

A panel of experts is assessing options ahead of the NSW government making a decision on the future of the Snowy Mountains’ brumbies. Among the options include:

1. Passive trapping: The method is already underway, but those involved say it is failing to reduce numbers. Those unable to be re-homed are trucked to the slaughter yard

2. Re-homing: Supported by Monaro MP John Barilaro, but NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service say they struggle to find takers for the brumbies they catch already

3. Aerial culling: Would require an overturn of the ban imposed by the Carr government after public outcry over the massacre of horses in Guy Fawkes River National Park of 2000

4. Brumby-running: Traditional method where horses are chased by local riders, not unlike in the movie The Man from Snowy River

5. Helicopter-mustering: Horses naturally flee the helicopter into a holding yard

6. Ground-shooting: Controversial but deemed by some as more humane than trucking horses to slaughter

7. Sterilisation: Sterilisation gun used to target mares, although only lasts two-three years

8. Do nothing: Park managers claim horses will eventually occupy the entire park if removal efforts are not increased, putting native plants and animals under threat