"My goal is to see wild living brumbies for all future generations"

What makes brumbies such an important part of our heritage?

Brumbies have been living in the Australian Alpine Park for about 200 years, or 2 centuries, they are bloodline descendants of army remounts that were sent to war with our soldiers, and over 130,000 horses, many drawn from the Alpine country, were sent to World War 1 and the Boer War so forebear of today’s Brumbies made a significant contribution to the Australian war effort. Brumbies have been the inspiration for our most famous writers and artists, including Ellyne Mitchell, Banjo Patterson, Henry Lawson and of course the inspiration for the Man from Snowy River! Apart from that, many of our early settlers formed strong bonds with horses and Brumbies, that are part of our Australian psyche. To cruelly shoot or destroy them is demoralising for many generational Australians, and even indigenous Australians who worked on stations. Brumbies are part of our cultural heritage and history, they are part of our cultural and social discourse.

Don’t they cause a lot of damage

No! Brumbies have lived symbiotically with Australian wildlife for nearly 200 years, but, there is a push to remove all connection with early colonial Australia and unfortunately Brumbies have become a political football for those who believe Brumbies represent colonialism. They don’t damage the environment, cause harm to threatened and endangered species. In fact Brumbies leave little footprint, they don’t have hard sharp hooves, Brumbies have soft concave hooves, in the wild, they “file”, they aren’t galloping always through the bush. They don’t create wallows like deer and they don’t route the ground like wild pigs. Many of us know this from having horses, Brumbies are gentle sentient creatures and form strong family bonds.

Does their population in the wild help the environment in any way? If so, please explain how and why this is important.

Brumbies bring great advantage to the environment, where they graze they reduce fuel for wildfires, they spread good seeds and nourish the soil with their manure. They create habitat for small creatures. Their incisors are different from kangaroos that will eat closer to the ground as do sheep. So Brumbies grazing habits are in fact complementary to kangaroo.

Can you please explain how and why the counts of wild brumbies are inaccurate?

The method used by the Australian Alpine Authority is called “distance modelling”. A transect line is drawn and a helicopter flies over and the horses seen will be counted, if the brumbies scatter they risk being counted several times, but, because the areas are so vast, the authority then simply multiplies the numbers of horses seen by the total area, of say, the Alpine park which is some 6,000 square kilometres. The numbers have been skewed and misrepresented for a decade or more. In 2013 no Brumbies were sighted so what happened is the report writer simply used another count and doubled the numbers. A recent report prepared by a biostatistician, Claire Galea has identified the errors and this information has been shared with the Senate Committee conducting an Inquiry into the presence of Brumbies in the Australian Alpine National Park.

How are the culls carried out?

Culls are generally carried out by ground shooting which can be cruel and inhumane, often leaving Brumbies to “bleed out”, especially if they are shot in the neck or gut. For a horse to die a quick death, it must be shot in the head or chest, that never happens. Aerial shooting is even worse as it is impossible to get a clear view of a moving object. There is no need to shoot any brumbies, particularly as it has been proven there aren’t as many as those who are opposed to Brumbies are saying. The numbers claimed are false.

Do the brumbies suffer? If so, what evidence is there for that?

Yes, Brumbies suffer, I hold photos which are available of a mare with a gun shot to her gut, she had a foal at foot. She died a long drawn out death as it was not a clean kill. She aborted spontaneously. The same small mob had about 6 Brumbies with shots to the neck, flank or back. All died cruel and long deaths. This is commonplace.

What needs to happen for the culls to stop? Or be drastically reduced?

The Legislation does not mandate horses be shot, the Legislation says “control” if numbers are too high. There is evidence now that proves numbers are not high. Brumbies have lived in the wild for nearly 2 centuries, and are a special class of introduced species. I believe Brumbies must be recognised for their heritage value and Legislation introduced that will protect that value and the environment. If necessary, Brumbies can be removed for rehoming with gentle trapping, but if there is honesty and transparency we will find numbers are such that Brumbies neither harm the environment or threatened or endangered species and live successfully and symbiotically with all other creatures in the wild.

If people want to get involved, how can they help?

The Group of which I am founder Brumby Action Group Incorporated, a not for profit incorporated association, welcomes members. Please go to our facebook page. We have a Petition with just on 200,000 signatures of people who want to save Brumbies!