Yahoo News 11 Nov 07;
An Australian state government's plans to shoot more than 10,000 wild horses to protect the environment were Sunday attacked by some animal rights activists as inhumane.
The Queensland government had attempted to keep the cull of the horses, or brumbies, a secret because of fears of a public outcry.
But government documents confirming the cull were obtained by the media while the Save the Brumbies charity reproduced photographs it said are of the cull on its website.
One of the images shows a foal standing over its dead mother while the second shows a horse left to die with a wound to its rump and gut.
Animal rights groups accept the government's argument that the horses are causing soil erosion, destroying freshwater springs, damaging Aboriginal cultural sites and competing with native wildlife for food.
But they say the vast overpopulation of the animals should have been dealt with years ago, and shooting the brumbies from helicopters was the result of years of brushing the issue under the carpet.
"For years and years the problem of wild horses has not been addressed," Jan Carter of Save the Brumbies told AFP.
"And then the idea is 'Well, let's go in and shoot them.'
"It's very inhumane. You've only got to see the photos to know they died in agony."
Brumby Watch Australia's Kristine Sempf told Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper the animals could be tamed.
The RSPCA condoned the cull but said the better solution would be to inject the mares with infertility drugs rather than shoot the horses dead or maim them and leave them to die.
"We would like to see the anti-fertility drugs instigated immediately so it reduces the need to have culls like this in other areas in the future," spokesman Michael Beatty told AFP.
Thousands of feral animals roam Australia's vast continent including horses, camels, donkeys, pigs, European wild rabbits, European red foxes, cats and goats.
With few natural predators and vast sparsely-populated areas in which to live, their populations have soared, putting pressure on native species by preying on them, competing for food, destroying habitat and spreading disease.
