Brumbies in Barmah National Park.
Photo by
Geoff Adams
Parks Victoria has resumed its secret shooting of brumbies in the Barmah National Park.
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The bodies of the horses have been left where they were shot.
Parts of the park remained open for the cull and no public warnings were given of the shooting operation.
The brumbies are being removed as part of the joint management plan agreed between Parks Victoria and the Yorta Yorta nation.
Members of the Barmah Brumbies Preservation Group have told Country News of seeing the bodies littering the forest floor on Friday, September 1 and Tuesday September 5. Witnesses say they appear to have been shot recently.
The group has been fighting a losing battle to preserve the brumbies, and have been trying to persuade Parks Victoria to let them trap and re-home the horses.
One of the Barmah brumbies shot by contract shooters.
Parks Victoria sees the brumbies as feral animals which are damaging native grasses, and has been working to remove the animals over the past few years.
Parks Victoria said it was endeavouring to control invasive species in Victoria’s national parks, including feral horses, which cause long-term and large-scale damage to native plants and animals, many of which occur nowhere else in the world.
“The conservation threats and pressure in the Barmah National Park have been exacerbated in recent years by damage from feral horses, deer and other feral animals, accelerated impacts of climate change and the limited progress of previous feral horse management methods,” the spokesperson said.
“Invasive animal control in the Barmah National Park is guided by the Barmah Strategic Action Plan. The most humane feral horse management techniques have been selected on the best advice.”
Under the joint management implementation plan for Barmah National Park, Parks Victoria is expected to consult with the Barmah Brumby Preservation Group on re-homing brumbies, but president Julie Pridmore said they have had no contact with Parks Victoria this calendar year and little productive contact last year.
“We took on 17 head of brumbies for re-homing as a result of the flood. But that was because the emergency Incident Control Centre in Shepparton directed the brumbies be fed and re-homed.”
Ms Pridmore said the group was upset with the way the brumbies were being shot and left on the forest floor. They wanted to engage with Parks Victoria in trapping and re-homing but they have not had any success in getting a hearing.
Parks Victoria estimated there were about 320 brumbies in the park in 2021, representing about one horse per 87 hectares.
The Brumby Preservation Group accepts that they have lost the fight to maintain a wild herd in the Barmah park, but their remaining struggle is to preserve the distinctive blood lines, and to this end, they are maintaining a group of about 50 on a 45ha sanctuary on private property adjoining the forest.
Ms Pridmore says they hope this will be their 150-year legacy, living examples of a part of northern Victoria’s history.
Parks Victoria did not answer written questions submitted by Country News about the cull, the reason the bodies are not removed from the forest, the numbers of horses left or about any risk to public safety by conducting shooting while some parts of the park were still open to the public.
Parks Victoria also did not comment on whether it was co-operating with the Barmah Brumbies Preservation Group.
Country News has lodged a freedom of information request with Parks Victoria about the cull, which is currently under appeal to the Privacy Commissioner.
The Parks Victoria website says to protect the safety and welfare of Parks Victoria staff, contractors and community members, operational details (such as timing and location of feral horse control operations) are not publicly released.
A Parks Victoria spokesperson told Country News planning and implementation of the feral horse management program in Barmah (and the Victorian Alps) is under way and will be ongoing.
Aerial shooting has not been used in Barmah (or the Alps) to date.
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