{"id":1507,"date":"2026-07-12T13:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T03:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2026-07-15T15:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:14:29","slug":"wild-brumbies-just-another-another-pest-apparently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/wild-brumbies-just-another-another-pest-apparently\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Brumbies: Just Another Another Pest Apparently"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s bizarre how humans assign animals into different categories based upon their own conscious and subconscious beliefs. Some animals are assigned as ‘pets’, others ‘food’ or ‘entertainment’. And then you have those animals that are labelled ‘pests’ because they get in the way of humans in some capacity. The label pest<\/em> often comes with a negative connotation: ‘dirty’ and ‘disease-ridden’. Cockroaches are right down the rung of the ladder – they are widely labelled as ‘dirty’ and\/or a ‘health risk’ – but I think context is important here. I mean, we humans pick up diseases all the time from our environment. Would we consider ourselves a pest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that wild brumbies are another animal to fall target to the ‘pest’ label, despite the fact wild brumbies were introduced by humans (they came to Australia with the British colonies in 1788). They wouldn’t be the first animal to be cast aside after first being used to aid humans (as they are descendants of horses). Think pigeons who were often used in world wars as messengers and for secret missions. And like brumbies, while once seen as useful (like pigeons, ancestors of wild brumbies were also used in wars)- and perhaps even a pet or ‘best friend’, they are now labelled as pests or disease carriers- or worse, ‘rats with wings’. So why are wild brumbies now being targeted?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brumbies are basically seen as a threat to our natural ecosystems, and that includes native wildlife. Once horses were no longer needed due to industrialisation, they became ‘wild horses’ (Australian Brumby Alliance). Are we seeing a pattern here yet? Humans rely on said animal. Humans no longer need said animal. Humans discard said animal. Said animal becomes a pest. It certainly didn’t take long for these ‘bush horses’ to obtain their name as invaders, despite all that their ancestors had done for humans: they have died for us in wars, mustered stock and carried us on their backs (Australian Brumby Alliance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As their numbers began to rise, they soon became a problem, especially in areas like the Koszciuszko National Park. Fast forward to the year 2000 and the damage that brumbies had caused left a detrimental effect on the natural landscape. Such effects include degradation of vegetation (as they are hard hooved), soil erosion and habitat destruction. NSW National Parks and Wildlife carried out a shooting campaign, killing over 600 brumbies (Animals Australia). Sadly, many of these horses were found still alive, days after being shot. That is nothing short of horrific. And yet the government would love to tell you these program are carried out ‘humanely’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aerial shooting is the main method of culling, alongside ground shooting. This has always been contentious with the public and rightly so. Outrage over aerial culling led to a 20 year ban. Unfortunately the ban on shooting didn’t last. Due to brumby numbers further escalating, aerial shooting was reintroduced in 2023. The truth is that many of these brumbies die a slow and agonising death. Standard procedure dictates that shooters aim for the brumbies’ head, but as you can imagine, it would be difficult to get an accurate shot from a fast-moving vehicle whilst your target is fleeing in terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time to stop vilifying introduced species. After all, it’s not their fault that they were brought here. So why do we punish them for it? The Animal Justice Party has a specific policy for introduced species, and one of the key objectives surrounding the policy is putting an end to the use of such vilifying language, for example ‘pest’, ‘feral’, ‘vermin’, ‘invasive’ – you name it. I think it’s a good starting point to reframe the narrative. They are also advocating for more humane management methods of brumby numbers. So what are they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach unfortunately. Overall management includes working on a number of different strategies. First, one must get an accurate report of brumby numbers. Just from doing a bit of research, it seems the numbers are often conflated. A good point made by the AJP in it’s submission to the senate Brumby Inquiry is that we must be aware that any method of culling can have unexpected consequences. You don’t know what the lasting impacts may be to the surrounding ecosystem when you reduce the numbers of one species in a targeted area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fertility control is one alternative method being explored. Save the Brumbies (NSW) was responsible for carrying out a fertility control trial in 2015, and there are more promising results from fertility control trials carried out in the United States. This method of course, does not come without its challenges: it involves application by dart gun, and this too, would involve a high degree of accuracy. It is also challenging due to the terrain and the ‘target area’ being so large. The AJP states that even if fertility control “could be achieved in more than 50% of females, it could be used to slow the rate of increase in the population to zero”, although this would take quite a few years to achieve without the use of other interventions. There is also a considerable cost in darting the animals: the cost of individual vaccines, plus the cost of the dart gun itself is said to be thousands of dollars. However, according to the Australian Brumby Alliance, it is still cheaper than trapping. More research and development in Australia is needed to further advance the possibility of fertility control methods being implemented. The government needs to step in and do its part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Re-homing is another humane alternative to culling, but this too comes with unique challenges as it is a rather lengthy and involved process. It is not as simple as any one person with the money or resources available can come in and rescue the brumbies; it has to be an approved government rescue, with appropriate re-homing status. The rescue and rehoming group must have a suitable re-homing program with adequate facilities and resources, and they have to demonstrate the ability to carry out the job (Australian Brumby Alliance). Then the group would need to work with other authorities to plan and implement an appropriate capture method, for example passive trapping or mustering. Once the brumbies have been trapped in a suitable area, they need to be transported. This of course, all involves money and it would be paid for by the re-homing group. The horse would then arrive at the appropriate facility and undergo initial assessment and care. They would then ideally be further trained with appropriate handling by humans, with the overarching goal of domestication. Horses would be adopted or put up for sale to suitable owners. The resources needed for this whole process to be carried out are immense. But if we had more sanctuaries for brumbies and groups working together to aid the whole process, it would be doable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But are we completely ignoring the other side of the coin here? Wild brumbies can also have a positive effect on the environment. It is said that when horses graze the dry brush, they are mitigating potential fire risks by reducing the amount needed to fuel fire (though some will debate that). In addition, when horses digest dry grass and produce droppings, the droppings help to produce fresher, greener grass (Animal Justice Party), which plays an important role in sequestering carbon. This means that wild horses could potentially be used to regenerate areas of over-grazed land; they could help with re-wilding these areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brumbies indeed hold important cultural and heritage value (Australian Brumby Alliance). In the United States, an Indigenous tribe is actually suing the government in order to stop the removal of over 600 wild horses, declaring that the horses are “sacred ancestral relatives”; they are embedded in the tribes’ cultural heritage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated than what does it say about the way we treat wild brumbies? What does it say about our nation and our humanity? Shouldn’t we also consider the unique contributions brumbies have made towards strengthening the spirit of our nation? When we look back on our nation’s history we want to hold our heads high with pride, not hang them in shame. Do the right thing Australia. Don’t just do the easy thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s bizarre how humans assign animals into different categories based upon their own conscious and subconscious beliefs. Some animals are assigned as ‘pets’, others ‘food’ or ‘entertainment’. And then you have those animals that are labelled ‘pests’ because they get in the way of humans in some capacity. The label pest often comes with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"animal":[39],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brumbyculling","animal-brumbies"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":157,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1760,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions\/1760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"animal","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becduffey.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/animal?post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}