RSPCA launches investigation: Horrific images of brumbies shot in the high country

RSPCA responds, after wild horses were gut shot by what locals say were government contractors in Victoria’s high country. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

Photographer Dean Marsland used trajectory rods to show how a stallion and three mares were shot from above, by what locals say were Victorian government contractors.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES. RSPCA Victoria has confirmed it has launched an investigation into a brumby cull that left animals to die slow and agonising deaths, after being shot through the guts by what locals say were government contractors using a helicopter and ground shooters.

“RSPCA has received an animal cruelty report relating to horses found deceased in the Alpine National Park,” RSPCA chief inspector Michael Stagg said.

“Our Inspectorate is investigating the matter and as such we are unable to provide any further comment.”

Horrific images of the cull emerged this week, after locals went in search of the horses, after repeatedly hearing a helicopter in the area for two days and hearing rumours they were aerial shooting.

Contract firefighter and photographer Dean Marsland visited the sight, about 25km east of Benambra in a clearing to the south off Limestone Road and took a series of images.

He placed trajectory rods into the wounds of each animal to show the stallion and three mares in the clearing had been shot from above, including one that aborted its foal as it died.

“Not one carcass had a head shot,” Mr Marsland said. “I honestly think they’ve been sprayed from a helicopter and then a ground crew has come in later.”

Death from above, a trajectory rod shows the path of a bullet that took down this brumby.

Gelantipy resident Joedy Everly, who initially found the five dead horses, said she went in search of them after hearing a helicopter repeatedly passing by the back of her property towards Banambra for two days and hearing rumours they were aerial shooting.

“I was devastated when I found them,” Ms Everly said. “It was disgusting, as not one (of the adult horses) died instantly from a head shot or clean chest shot.”

Mr Marsland said the only animal given a quick death was a filly that appeared to have “sat down by her dying mum and been shot from the ground, in the chest, as she tried to get up”.

“We found 4WD tracks near the site, but not one cartridge,” she said.

In June Parks Victoria confirmed it intended to begin shooting 5000 brumbies in the Alpine National Park, issuing tender documents calling for contractors to begin shooting this month.

Five brumbies were shot in this clearing, about 25km east of Benambra, just south of Limestone Rd.

The tender documents also demanded shooters use suppressors to reduce the noise of gunfire, with “every effort must be made to avoid shooting feral animals in waterways, close to roads, vehicle and walking tracks and camping areas where carcasses may be visible to the public”.

Parks Victoria admitted it was engaged in ground shooting brumbies, but denied it had conducted any aerial shooting.

“Aerial shooting may be considered in exceptional circumstances, or may be trialled if other methods fail to remove sufficient horses to reduce ecological impacts, however aerial shooting has not been used in Alpine or Barmah National Parks to date,” a Parks Victoria spokesman said.

Victoria’s Brumby Action Group spokeswoman Marilyn Nuske said the evidence of wounds going vertically through the horses bodies contradicted Parks Victoria’s claims, and failed to explain why its helicopters were in the region at the time.

“If it was ground shooting it was just brutal and cruel, given the gun shot wounds to their necks and abdomens.

“These brumbies died long drawn-out cruel deaths,” Ms Nuske said.

“I have lodged a complaint with Victorian Ombudsman and reported the cruelty to RSPCA with a recommendation that Parks Victoria ought to be prosecuted for cruelty.”

The tender documents show contract shooters have been forced to sign confidentiality agreements, with Parks Victoria warning any “leaks of information of any kind by the contractor will be deemed a breach of contract leading to termination”.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio referred questions about why the brumbies were not shot humanely to Parks Victoria, which has failed to answer that question to date.

Parks Victoria has previously stated “that to protect the safety and welfare of Parks Victoria staff, contractors and community members, operational details (such as timing and location of feral horse control operations) are not publicly released”.

This brumby was shot through the neck.