Brumby Action Group to protest bill at Minister Lily D’Ambrosio’s office

About 150 protesters are preparing to lobby for a bill that bans aerial shooting of Victoria’s wild brumbies.

No shooting: Brumby supporters say shooting is not only wrong it puts foals at risk of starvation.

About 150 protesters are preparing to descend on Victorian Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio’s Mill Park office on Friday to present her with an alternative strategy to simply shooting the state’s wild brumbies.

Brumby Action Group spokeswoman Marilyn Nuske, who is helping co-ordinate the protest, said they had drafted a Victorian Heritage Brumby Bill, similar to the one adopted by the NSW Government, which would bring all stakeholders together to find alternatives to aerial shooting.

“It (the Bill) would have a community advisory panel that works with the government and Parks Victoria to ensure the heritage value of brumbies is respected and rehoming takes place, rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on shooting,” Ms Nuske said.

“If you gave that money to rehomers you could reshape the system.

“Let’s get some benefits for all. If there are some fragile areas that are being damaged by brumbies then of course they need to be removed and rehomed.”

The Victorian government released its 2021 feral horse action plan at the beginning of last month, which for the first time states “aerial shooting may be applied in exceptional circumstances, or if other methods fail to remove sufficient horses to reduce ecological impacts”.

At the time Parks Victoria stated: “please note 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”.

In NSW aerial shooting of brumbies has been abandoned, with Government opting instead for rehoming wherever possible, with the goal of reducing the wild horse population from an estimated 14,380 horses to 3000 horses by 30 June 2027.