Australia wants to shoot 16,000 horses from helicopters

Klima & Umwelt

Australia is known for its wildlife. Apart from wombats, kangaroos and koalas, the so-called brambis also live there. But soon these wild horses may be significantly fewer.

Officials have now announced that a total of 16,000 wild horses will be shot in Australia’s New South Wales state. Not as part of a regular hunt, but from helicopters. This is behind the plan.

During the colonization of Australia in the 18th century, hard rattans were brought there only from Europe. They are similar to American Mustangs. So today’s brumbies actually come from domesticated horses. After being freed by settlers they became native to the nature of Australia.

Brumbies came to Australia in the 18th century.Image: iStockphoto / Kathryn Wilson

Australia: Wild horse population on the rise

19,000 wild horses currently live in Kosciuszko National Park, 350 kilometers from Sydney. But animals don’t have particularly many fans. New South Wales state environment protection minister Benny Sharp has now announced plans to shoot 16,000 brumbies.

Its purpose is to use a method that has been effectively banned since 2000. Animals must be shot from helicopters. However, other approaches have had little success in the past. Parks are already taking action against the growing number of horses through trapping and regular hunting. Resettlement efforts have not met with much success so far.

Resistance to firing action

Minister Sharp said no one wants to kill horses. “But the population of brumbies threatens native animals and the ecosystem as a whole. In the past two years, the number of worms in Kosciuszko National Park has increased by a third. Across the state of New South Wales, wild horses are increasing by 15 to 18 percent each year. So Environmental Protection Minister Sharp said:

When the highly controversial firing method was last used in 2000, there were huge protests. At that time, 600 horses were shot within three days. Due to public opposition, the operation was cancelled. After all, opponents of mass shootings argue that the animals now belong in Australia.

There have been large-scale protests against shootings in the past.Image: AFP / WILLIAM WEST

Guardians in particular see this in a more nuanced way. Wild horses reproduce very quickly. There may be as many as 400,000 brambling in Australia today. These can damage the habitat of other animals and therefore be bad for the conservation of other rare species.