Parks Victoria has declined to comment on allegations that it is firing brumbias and leaving carcasses hidden in Barmah National Park, on the border between New South Wales and Victoria.
Warning: This story contains an image that readers may find distressing.
Key points:
- More than 30 hidden brumby canals have been found hidden in Barmah National Park
- Parks Victoria has refused to confirm or deny whether they are behind the dead horses
- Fights are underway over whether brumbias should be sacrificed in Victoria
Members of the local brumby preservation group say they have found more than 30 bodies in the park and believe there could be more.
They claim that Parks Victoria is responsible.
“They have come out on our backs and organized various shooting operations,” said Barrayh Brumby Preservation Group Vice President Murray Willaton.
Barmah Brumby Preservation Group Vice President Murray Willaton says brumbias should not be shot. (Provided by: Mark Willaton)
Last year, Parks Victoria released an action plan outlining measures to reduce brumby populations through a combination of trapping, rehousing and grounding.
Although a Parks Victoria spokesperson confirmed that the “planning and implementation” of his plan was underway, they did not confirm how many horses had been slaughtered so far, if any.
However, Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh, to whom members of the preservation group sent photos of the carcasses, said it had already begun.
“My understanding is that they stay that way until the artifice comes and takes them away,” he said.
Parks Victoria has not confirmed whether the carcasses were part of its action plan.
They added that they would not post any operational details, such as the timing and location of wild horse control operations, to protect the safety of staff, contractors and community members.
Peter Walsh said he had been sent photos of brumby carcasses hidden under brushes in Barmah National Park. (Facebook)
The battle is brewing over the brumbies
In the wetlands of Barmah and the alpine plains of the high country a battle is being prepared for the brumbias of Victoria.
For some, horses are an intrinsic part of Australia’s heritage and should be protected.
But for scientists, environmentalists and rangers, brumbias are pests that need to be removed quickly to protect vulnerable native plants and animals.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Clock time: 44 minutes 27 seconds44 m The bitter culture shock of Australia’s wild horses. (Four Corners)
Meanwhile, in Barmah, the people of Yorta Yorta are afraid of posing a major threat to the sacred places of the aborigines.
But this week the battle has erupted on the steps of parliament, with the Victorian opposition announcing it would eliminate the slaughter of wild horses by Labor if elected.
Benambra Liberal MP Bill Tilley expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s policy of riding on the steps of Parliament.
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Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh said they would focus their efforts solely on rehousing and controlling the fertility of horses.
But while the announcement was well received by Brumby supporters, it was widely criticized by others.
“It will be more of a problem”
Brumbias are only found in two Victorian parks: Barmah National Park, on the border between New South Wales and Victoria, and Alpine National Park in the Victoria Highlands.
There are an estimated 600 wild horses in Barmah, 100 in the high plains of Bogong and about 5,000 in the Eastern Alps.
Parks Victoria plans to completely eradicate horses in Barmah and Bogong and significantly reduce the number in the east.
Although the exact number of brumbias is disputed, Charles Sturt University professor of ecology David Watson said the situation was reaching a crisis with populations growing out of control.
“The more we are here, wringing our hands and saying, ‘Look, it’s controversial, they’re majestic, we don’t want to do harm,’ we’ve been doing wrong for more than a decade,” Professor Watson said. dit.
“It will become one more problem, populations will become extinct, our stream lines will remain polluted, the waters of our trails will remain muddy.”
Professor David Watson said brumbias are causing significant damage to the high Victorian country. (Supplied by: Charles Sturt University)
He was critical of the Liberals and Nationals’ plan to focus primarily on relocation.
“This would require about a hundred times more animals to be removed and housed than we have historically seen,” he said.
“The number of people who actually reinstall wild horses is tiny.”
Professor Watson added fertility control, although a good solution for small areas, would be impractical for populations not contained in vast, mountainous regions.
Capture efforts stalled
While Parks Victoria has been working to catch and bring home some of the brumbias, they recently claimed that their efforts had been thwarted.
Executive Director Matthew Jackson told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee that some traps in Alpine and Barmah National Parks were no longer used after being thrown or manipulated by members of the public.
Scientists, environmentalists and rangers say brumbias are harming the environment in Barmah and Alpine National Parks. (Fixed line)
But the Barmah Preservation Group, which opened a brumby sanctuary last year to help relocate the horses, said that was not true.
“A set of traps has been used in Barmah National Park. They have not been demolished,” Willaton said.
He said Parks Victoria was not working hard enough to catch the brumbies.
“While Parks Victoria has promised the public that their main intention was to catch and return home, they have actually done a week of trapping in the last 18 months,” he said.
So far, ten horses have been collected in Barmah National Park and in the Alpine National Park.
The worries that brumbias are destroying ecology
In 2018, legislation was passed on the New South Wales border that protects the heritage of wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
The bill drew widespread criticism from scientists, conservationists and rangers, who said it prioritized an invasive species over native and endangered species.
Brumby Victorian supporters are calling for a similar bill.
A rally was held on the steps of Melbourne Parliament to protest the shooting of brumbias in Victoria. (Facebook)
Professor Watson stated that the “pro-horse” cohort was a small group of people with “very strong ideals.”
And he said that instead of “pleasing” these groups, urgent measures should be taken to control the malignant populations.
“They’re taking the place of a bunch of special mountain creatures, wild mountain flowers,” he said.
“These things are nowhere else on the planet. You can see horses anywhere.
“We need to have a long conversation about what matters to Australians and Australians, and try to overcome this really nasty policy.”