Kill all wild horses in Australian national park: environmentalists

Reuters 16 Jan 08;

Environmentalists called Wednesday for hundreds of wild horses to be shot dead to prevent a unique Australian national park becoming a "horse paddock," with little room for native species.

Around 1,700 feral horses -- known in Australia as 'brumbies' -- have caused havoc in the Kosciuszko National Park, according to the National Parks Association of New South Wales state.

They are increasing in numbers by as much as 300 a year, the conservation group said, but the state has banned shooting of the animals from helicopters, widely considered the most effective way of controlling them.

The park, located near the country's highest peak Mount Kosciuszko, covers 675,000 hectares (1.67 million acres) and is a UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve.

It contains the only alpine lake in mainland Australia, as well as plant species found nowhere else in the world and the rare mountain pygmy possum and corroboree frog.

"It is very undisturbed. It is a very intact ecosystem," association official Andrew Cox told AFP. "I don't want to see a park with 7,000 horses in 10 years time. It is going to be quite scary."

Asked if they should be eliminated totally, he added: "That is our ideal goal -- to eradicate the horses."

"They are very possessive. When they pass through you can see."

The association suggests culling more than 1,000 horses in the first year, with most of those left killed in the second year to stop the population growing again through breeding.

It says current plans to deal with the problem by trapping the horses are ineffective, accusing the state national parks authorities of caving in to sentimentalism. The association itself is a non-government body and is not directly involved with the running of the parks.

The area has entered Australian folklore as the location of the Snowy River, which is associated in many Australians' minds with wild horses.

The state National Parks and Wildlife Service admits aerial shooting is an easy option.

But there is a moratorium on the practice after community anger at a botched cull of horses in another of the state's national parks in 2000.