NSW Environment Minister proposes aerial shooting to cull horses in Kosciuszko National Park

The wild horses are loved by many, but a staggering population boom has put other species in the park on the cusp of extinction.

Wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park could soon be targeted with aerial shooting in a move to contain an out-of-control population that threatens the entire ecosystem of the beloved park.

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe announced the new control measure as part of an amendment to the management plan for the horses, stating bluntly the horses had thrown the park’s “balance” out of whack.

“Over recent years the numbers of horses in the park at Kosciuszko have become unsustainable in relation to the rest of the balance of the ecosystems within Kosciuszko National Park,” she said at Martin Place in Sydney on Monday.

“We now have a situation where the numbers of horses are impacting on water.

“We need to remember that the head of the Murray River starts through those mountains.

“The impact on soil and the impact, particularly on other threatened species within the park, is now coming to the point where the horses could drive them to extinction.”

Wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park. Picture: NPWS

The government estimates the horses threaten more than 30 native threatened species, including the critically endangered southern and northern corroboree frogs, the endangered mountain pygmy possum, the endangered Guthega skink and she-oak skink, the vulnerable broad-toothed rat, the critically endangered Kelton‘s leek orchid and blue-tongued greenhood, and the critically endangered fish stocky galaxias.

Exact figures are unclear, but a November 2022 survey estimates there are between 14,000 and 23,000 brumbies running wild in the park.

The government is legally obligated to cull the numbers to 3000 by June 30, 2027.

Alongside aerial shooting, existing methods of ground shooting, rehoming and trapping will continue.

The introduction of aerial shooting is not yet set in stone.

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe says the horses pose a threat to the park’s ecosystem. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA NewsWire

The government has asked the community to provide input on the proposed amendment through to September 11, 2023.

A final decision would not be made until all feedback has been considered, the minister said.

“The other thing I want to make very clear here is that there is no intention to remove horses entirely from the park,” she said.

“We understand how important the horses are in relation to the stories in and around that region.

“We understand how much people love the horses and enjoy interacting with them.”

Greens MP and environment spokeswoman Sue Higginson has welcomed the proposal but said a review of the overall management plan would be needed to gain control over the problem.

A mountain pygmy possum threatened by wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park. Picture: DPE

“It is not acceptable that feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park are pushing critically endangered species to extinction, but the idea of aerial culling is not something to be celebrated, it is to be seen as what it is, a necessary humane management tool to prevent extinction,” she said.

“When the NSW opposition introduced protections for feral horses in NSW National Parks, it was a politically motivated disaster for native species, biodiversity and feral horses.

“Trapping and removal programs between 2019 and 2021 removed only 886 feral horses out of an estimated population at the time of 14,000, a mere 5 per cent of horses.

“Meanwhile, between 2020 and 2022, the feral horse population has grown a staggering 4434.

“Evidence from the federal government that was provided to the senate inquiry into the impacts and management of feral horses in the Australian Alps shows the NSW government will have to reduce feral horses in KNP by 4000 per year at the very least to reach the target population of 3000 as outlined in the management plan.

“With feral horse populations increasing each year, a review of the management plan is overdue and can’t come soon enough.