Covert brumby cull: Parks Victoria calls for contractors to ground-shoot horses
Parks Victoria is launching a “covert” cull of feral horses, demanding shooters use silencers. See the maps of the planned culling.
Parks Victoria has called for shooters to cull horses in Victoria’s Alpine and Barmah National Parks, but has demanded they use silencers and operate covertly, due to what it calls the “significant risk posed by feral horse activists”.
“Activists have gone to extreme measures to try to stop the control of feral horses including death threats to Parks Victoria staff, protests and threats to sabotage control operations,” the Parks Victoria tender documents state.
“The contractor will work with a small group of Parks Victoria staff who have operational knowledge of the program on a ‘need to know basis’. The highest levels of information security are required and all operations will be conducted covertly.”
Tender documents also state that while shooters can take out pigs, deer and goats, it is feral horses that are the “primary target”.
Parks Victoria has also committed to keep the name of the winning contractor secret and demands they sign confidentiality agreements.
“Leaks of information of any kind by the contractor will be deemed a breach of contract. Any contractor personnel deemed by Parks Victoria staff as being unfit to maintain information security or lack the necessary risk management approach to maintaining operational safety will be stood down at the sole discretion of Parks Victoria as being unfit for the duties described herein.”
Brumby Action Group spokeswoman Marilyn Nuske said “we’re not aware of any threats to Parks Victoria staff”.
“The secrecy has got to more to do with them trying to conceal the cruelty of what they’re doing from the public,” she said.
“We’ve run community events and the majority of the public are horrified to learn of any shooting.”
The tender documents state the winning contractor only uses professional shooters, who undertake at least 25 culling operations in the Alpine National Park and another 10 culls in the Murray River’s Barmah Forest over 12 months, once the contract is signed.
Each operation must consist of two culling teams (a shooter and spotter), each working over four consecutive nights, in remote and difficult terrain.
Shooters must carry at least two rifles with suppressors (silencers), thermal scopes for night culling, plus GPS devices to mark the location of culled horses and other feral animals they kill.
The tender documents also state horses must be shot under the Australian ground-shooting standard, with a clear shot to the head or heart and lungs.
The standard also states that: “if lactating females are inadvertently shot, efforts should be made to find dependent young and kill them quickly and humanely with a shot to the brain”.
Shooters will also be required to record the location of each kill within five days, but it seems unlikely the State Government will make this information public, given its poor record on transparency.
The tender opened on Wednesday this week and closes on June 8.
The culling will occur in the following areas:
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