Brumbies aren’t the problem. Our need to dominate everything is.
Every few years we do this dance again:
We decide a landscape is “under threat”, pick an animal to blame, then reach for the most final, violent solution available — and call it management.
This time it’s brumbies in Kosciuszko, and I’m going to be blunt: I’m against the culling (this isn’t surprising!). I don’t believe a helicopter and a rifle is a thoughtful answer to a complex problem, and I don’t believe the moral high ground belongs to the people who treat living beings like an inconvenience to be deleted.
“It’s for the environment” … but which environment are we talking about?
Kosciuszko isn’t just a postcard. It’s a fragile alpine ecosystem, and yes — the NSW Government’s position is that wild horses are one of the pressures that need controlling.
But here’s the part that often gets glossed over: horses are not the only introduced pressure.
NSW’s own reporting has pointed to multiple feral animal species occurring in the park, and invasive species control involving removals not just of horses, but also deer, pigs, cats, foxes and rabbits.
So when the conversation becomes horses = the problem, I struggle to see it as education. It feels like a shortcut.
If the goal is ecological repair, why is the default “kill”?
The current NSW framework has included a legislated population target of 3,000 horses by mid-2027, and NSW has formally allowed aerial shooting as one of the control methods to reach that target.
But “allowed” and “right” are not the same thing.
If we’re serious about being responsible stewards (and I’ll come back to that phrase), then we should be pouring our energy into approaches that don’t normalise killing as the first, best, or only tool or:
Properly scaled trapping and rehoming programs (with robust welfare oversight),
Serious investment in fertility control where practical,
Better transparency about what’s working, what isn’t, and where the real pressures are coming from.
And yes, I’m aware rehoming has had controversy — which is exactly why transparency and standards matter, not why we throw the whole idea away.
“But they’re feral.” We made them that way.
Brumbies didn’t sign up for this role. Humans introduced them, shifted land use, built industries, pushed tourism, changed waterways, brought other invasive species, and then act shocked that ecosystems are strained.
So when people say, “They don’t belong,” my response is: neither do most of our impacts.
The bit no one wants to say out loud: development pressure changes the story
When you zoom out, Kosciuszko isn’t just managed for conservation. It’s also under ongoing planning and development pressures — including formal planning instruments for the alpine region, and proposals around resort growth and associated infrastructure.
That doesn’t “prove” brumby policy is about ski resorts — I’m not going to pretend we can read minds - it does explain why many people feel uneasy when the loudest answer is “remove animals” rather than “reduce human footprint”. Historically, wild places get asked to make room for commerce, and animals are the easiest things to silence, but humans are sure good at throwing their weight around.
And here’s the core of it for me: it’s not ours
This is the part I wish sat at the front of every policy document:
This land isn’t ours to own and rule.
We can talk about management, biodiversity, tourism, heritage, economics — all of it. But if the mindset underneath is “humans are in charge, nature must comply,” we’ll keep repeating the same mistake with different species.
We don’t need more dominance and short-sightedness.
We need more humility.
If you want to be “pro-environment”, start with human behaviour
If the genuine aim is ecological health, then put the same energy into:
Controlling all introduced species with consistency (not convenience),
Limiting damaging access and development,
Funding long-term monitoring and restoration in conjunction to preservation and limiting development; and
Backing non-lethal population tools where they can genuinely work. Provide the opportunity for those who are willing and able to help.
If “saving Kosciuszko” always begins and ends with shooting horses, we’re not talking about care. We’re talking about control - one that human’s have self-designated and there are plenty of us who disagree with the decisions that are made by a minority, often, for a majority.
#Brumbies #Kosciuszko #AnimalWelfare #WildlifeManagement #ConservationPolicy #InvasiveSpecies #AustralianAlps #EthicalLeadership #EnvironmentalStewardship #ProtectNature
