Starving Horses !

We were once totally reliant on the horse as our means of transport and this noble animal retains affection in the minds of many people.  A news story about horses left starving in a paddock somewhere brings such anguish that relief is immediate .The law swings into place and the person responsible is promptly prosecuted.

Unfortunately, that affection is preventing the culling of a vast herd of wild horses doing immense damage to the fragile alpine structure of the Kosciuszko National Park.   These horses have legendary status is people's minds because they featured in our early history and have a place in our folklore.

The hooves of wild horses diverts water courses and churns the alpine meadow to the extent that many horses are in poor condition because of starvation. There is not enough feed for this growing herds and yet all efforts to reduce the numbers have produced outrage that stayed the executioners hand.

A plan to cull the numbers by using sharpshooters  firing from helicopters was abandoned because wounded horses suffered a lingering death.  The use of poison baits drew similar public revulsion and the programme has been reduced to trapping these animals with the intent of moving them to where they may serve as riding horses, and that is encountering more problems.

Data supplied by the National Parks and Wildlife service reveal in 2020 they trapped  just 382 wild horses, but that another 192 were released on compassionate grounds.  Heavily pregnant mares and those with foals at foot are simply released to rejoin the herd because the contractors fear the public anger if horses unable to be tamed are executed.  In this way, the most fertile rejoin the breeding numbers and the size of the wild herd rarely diminishes.

As well as damage to the meadow and water courses, these herds travel widely and their hooves carry and disperse noxious weeds to areas that have remained weed free for centuries.,  There is also a danger that this trapping programme will overload the market for riding horses which is facing a growing shortage of vacant land near cities where such horses may graze.

The horse was an introduced species to Australia and it was inevitable that some would escape and breed in the bush.  The same thing happened when Camels were imported to serve as transport over the dry inland areas and today there are herds of wild camels trampling water sources in our outback.  Fortunately, the Camel does not hold a similar affection in public minds.

Reducing the number of wild horses is gaining increasing urgency and the government will needs to formulate new plans in the short term, and once again this issue will provoke a national debate.  The high plains can not support the numbers there at present and many in this wild herd are in poor condition.   It would be an act of cruelty to allow the Kosciuszko National Park to be destroyed by starving horses destined to die from malnutrition.

The public need to face reality and agree that some sort of realistic cull is now necessary  !