HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN BRUMBY:
* Arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788.
* Abandoned or escaped into the wild in 1804.
* Today about 6,000 brumbies occupy 48 per cent of Kosciuszko National Park.
IMPACT OF HOOFED ANIMALS:
* damage waterways due to trampling.
* degrade soil and cause erosion.
* spread weeds.
* damage vegetation altering the habitat of birds and their prey.
* decline of natural fauna.
CULLING METHODS:
* aerial/ground shooting.
* fertility control.
* fencing out to protect areas of the park.
* mustering for domestication or transport to knackery or abattoir.
RECENT STATISTICS:
* The brumby population in the park increased from 4,200 in 2009 to 6000 in 2016 despite 450 being removed every year.
RECENT HISTORY:
* In 2016 a Wild Horse Management Plan was handed to the NSW government but failed to become law after it recommended brumby numbers be culled from 6000 to 600 in 20 years.
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS:
* National Parks Association of NSW chief executive Alix Goodwin has expressed dismay at the proposal to protect the horses:
"The decision is an international embarrassment and another nail in the coffin for NSW national parks."
* Nature Conservation Council chief executive Kate Smolski said keeping the brumbies in the Snowy Mountains will endanger the local flora and fauna:
"The feral horse is the most destructive pest species in our fragile Alpine areas and the government should follow the science to ensure we pass it on to future generations in a healthy state."
AUSTRALIAN GREENS:
Greens NSW Animal Welfare and Environment spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi says more humane methods are needed to control the brumbies:
"We need sustainable and humane wild horse population control measures, ensuring that we also protect Kosciuszko's pristine natural environment."
WHAT LOCALS THINK:
Cochran Horse Treks trail boss Peter Cochrane, who is also the former state member for Monaro, now represented by NSW deputy premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro, says wild horses do not cause damage in the Kosciuszko National Park where he now leads horse treks:
"It's nonsense, more exaggeration and lies from the environment groups."
"They've had an obsession with the Snowy Mountains brumbies at the expense of focusing on feral animals like wild pigs, goats, deer, cats, foxes and wild dogs."
PRO BRUMBY GROUP
Brumby Alliance spokeswoman Madison Young, who is also an environmental scientist, supports the protection of flora and fauna but also says if areas need to be horse-free then more research needs to be done on how best to remove them:
"There hasn't been any studies into the impact the brumbies have on the park."
"If you removed 6000 brumbies from the park then we don't know what will happen if you take them out."
