Brumby kills: Nunniong littered with shot brumbies

The holidays have ended with an East Gippsland camping area littered with brumby corpses, shot dead in suspected illegal spotlighting incidents.

WARNING: Readers may find the pictures and video contained within this article disturbing.

More brumbies have been found shot dead due to suspected illegal spotlighting in Victoria’s high country over the holiday period.

Tambo Upper resident Rechelle Beveridge was camping with her family at Nunniong in East Gippsland on New Year’s Day when she and her husband discovered two shot brumbies in separate locations while walking their dog.

The gunned-down horses had a filly and a foal desperately hanging by their sides, emaciated after days without feed.

“We went over there and we grabbed the little foal who looked very underweight and he was probably standing next to his Mum eating absolutely nothing for days, I’m guessing,” said Ms Beveridge, a disability support worker.

The foal’s mother had a broken leg and a single shot wound to her neck.

“Other campers said some blokes were chasing her mob, and maybe she broke her leg and they finished her off with a shot,” said Ms Beveridge.

The young filly that they took in earlier that day died despite their best efforts, and they are currently hand-rearing the foal.

The motherless foal being nursed back to health by Rechelle’s husband Bryce Beveridge. Pictures: Supplied

Around Christmas and Boxing Day, Ms Beveridge says she saw a 30-strong contingent of people “in four-wheel drives chasing horses,” who she confronted and who “were really threatening”.

She then reported them to Parks Victoria and Victoria Police, who assisted in warning the travelling group, who left the area the next day.

Slaughtered brumbies found by Rechelle at Nunniong in late November.

One of the horses had been partially decomposed due to laying in water.

Ms Beveridge was thankful for the help, but still remained very upset over what she has continually seen, including illegal spotlighting in late November that left more of the iconic horses dead and rotting.

“It’s senseless and heartless and it’s part of our heritage that’s being slaughtered,” she said.

Rechelle called the killings “senseless and heartless”.

The latest spate of killings comes just months after RSPCA Victoria launched an investigation into horrific brumby cullings that resulted in gut-shot horses dying slowly and painfully near Benambra.

Premier Daniel Andrews has refused to stop Parks Victoria’s planned cullings as recently as June 2022.

Parks Victoria and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action were unable to provide comment by deadline.