There are only about 4000 feral horses left in the Snowy Mountains since aerial shooting began. Photo: File.
Feral horse numbers in the Kosciuszko National Park have dropped to the low thousands, with NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe saying culling methods were working.
The Minister told a parliamentary committee that preliminary figures were provided to her which show “numbers are way down … and we are around the 3000 to 4000 mark”.
She said the final figures will be released following peer review.
Invasive Species Council interim chief executive officer Jack Gough said the culling data was good news.
“It’s fantastic to hear from Minister Sharpe that feral horse numbers in Kosciuszko National Park may be around 3000 to 4000,” he said.
“This is a dramatic reduction from the around 17,000 horses trashing and trampling the high country a couple of years ago.
“It reflects the commitment of the Minns Government to back national parks staff who have been conducting aerial shooting operations professionally, safely and effectively.
“The control program will clearly need to continue to reach the legal requirement of no more than 3000 feral horses in 32 per cent of the national park by June 2027.”
Natural population growth of feral horses is about 18 per cent per year.
The latest feral horse population count for Kosciuszko National Park was discussed in NSW Budget Estimates on Monday (3 March), with figures showing numbers have dropped significantly.
NSW law requires the number of feral horses to be reduced to 3000 by 2027.
A recent parliamentary inquiry showed broad support across the Liberals, Labor, Greens and independents for sensible action to urgently reduce the number of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
“For the sake of our precious wildlife and sensitive alpine ecosystems, we urge Minister Sharpe to err on the side of caution and use the upper limit of the population estimate so that there can be no doubt the population has not exceeded 3000 in 2027,” Mr Gough said.
“For the first time in two decades, we are finally seeing our sensitive National Parks healing from the destruction of feral horses.
“The recent successful control programs in Barrington Tops and the Blue Mountains World Heritage areas are a testament to the commitment and leadership on this issue from the Minns Government.
“No one likes to see animals killed, but the sad reality is that we have a choice to make between urgently reducing the numbers of feral horses or accepting the destruction of sensitive alpine rivers, and the decline and extinction of native animals and their homes.”
More than 5000 wild horses were killed in the Kosciuszko National Park between aerial shooting recommencing late 2023 and May last year.
Ms Sharpe released figures last May showing 5539 feral horses had been killed from the air, with a further 427 removed through other means such as ground shooting, trapping and rehoming.
She said at the time that the high numbers showed how important the need was to cull the brumbies.
“The numbers speak for themselves. There have been simply too many wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park,” she said.
“The NSW government is delivering on its commitment to protect and restore our environment, and I am sure we will soon see the benefits for our native plants and animals as well as our precious alpine ecosystem.”
In NSW, feral horses are protected at the expense of native wildlife under the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018, which requires a ‘heritage herd’ of feral horses to be maintained in Kosciuszko National Park.
An Australian Senate inquiry report into the impacts and management of feral horses in the Australian Alps was released in October 2023 and recommended, among other things, that aerial shooting should be adopted for control of feral horses in NSW.
The NSW Government adopted that recommendation in October 2023.
Brumby advocacy group, the Snowy Mountains Bush Users Group INC, filed an application in the NSW Supreme Court to stop the aerial shooting of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
The group argued that the Minister had erred in her decision to use aerial shooting as a method to cull the animals because she had received inaccurate information.
That application was dismissed.
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