Calls for end to brumby shooting thrown out of court

Parks Victoria will continue shooting wild horses in the Victorian Alps after a move to have the practice outlawed failed.

An advocacy group concerned about wild brumbies being shot in the Victorian Alps has had its case thrown out of court.

The Australian Brumby Alliance Inc took Parks Victoria to court for its brumby management in the Alpine National Park, with a hearing held on December 1 and 2 last year.

The alliance – dedicated to the protection of wild brumby populations – argued the ground and aerial shooting programs contravened codes of practice and ignored rules and regulations such as those set out in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Parks Victoria is in charge of the control and management of the park and must ensure it is controlled and managed in accordance with the National Parks Act 1975 and in a manner that will “exterminate or control exotic fauna”, court documents show.

The court heard the government body believed there were about 5000 of the introduced species in the park and, despite large-scale bushfires, this population had increased in recent years.

Parks Victoria raised concern about the brumbies’ impact on the environment – including native wildlife, vegetation and the spread of weeds and disease.

It manages brumbies through plans including the ‘Protection of the Alpine National Park: Feral Horse Action Plan November 2021’, in which brumbies are described as being the cause of “immense ecological damage … in the fragile high country of the Australian Alps”.

The plan states brumbies were to be controlled and reduced by ground shooting by professional shooters as well as aerial shooting from helicopters when required, though all in accordance with animal welfare standards.

During the hearing the court heard Parks Victoria had found trapping and rehoming the brumbies to be “pretty unsuccessful”.

It also acknowledged that the presence and ongoing management of brumbies was a “highly controversial issue” that had provoked “heated debate”.

The Australian Brumby Alliance did not accept the arguments about the extent of the environmental impact and argued the brumbies were “living, sentient animals” that were “beautiful and important” and implored Parks Victoria to cease shooting them immediately.

It argued aerial shooting could not possibly fit within the code – specifically that every shot animal needed to be examined to ensure it was dead and that any wounded animals that survived and escaped needed to be tracked down and humanely killed.

But Judge Stephen O’Meara found he could not resolve the case in favour of the alliance.

“In light of the above, each of the issues presented for determination cannot ultimately be resolved in favour of the plaintiff . It follows that the plaintiff’s application for injunctive and declaratory relief must be refused and, in substance, the proceeding dismissed.”