FAQs for Feral Horse Management
How many feral horses are there in
Namadgi National Park (NNP)?
Observations in January 2007 detected
two herds in NNP, comprising between
15 and 20 horses. Management has
reduced this number to one herd of six
horses in 2009.
How can horses possibly affect
Canberra’s water supply?
The sub-alpine wetlands filter and
regulate stream flows within the Cotter
River Catchment that supplies the main
source of water for the 350,000 people of
Canberra and Queanbeyan.
Where are the horses in NNP?
The horses are inhabiting sub-alpine
grassy flats on Mt Bimberi (the highest
peak in the ACT) and elsewhere in the
south-western area of NNP, along the
border with Kosciuszko National Park in
NSW.
Tracks formed by horses within
sphagnum wetlands can ultimately lead
to the drainage and drying out of whole
bog systems.
What is so bad about horses in NNP?
With their hard hooves, large body
weight, and requirement for large
quantities of herbage, each horse is
capable of causing considerable damage
to fragile sub-alpine ecosystems.
What environmental impacts are the
horses having in NNP?
Loss of vegetation due to grazing,
trampling and rolling by horses.
Trampling of sub-alpine creek lines and
where horses camp.
Horses are selective grazers so that,
over time, they will alter the plant
composition of the grassy flats.
Where horses have entered sphagnum
moss bogs, their weight has caused
them to punch holes right though, which
is expected to lead to water draining from
individual sphagnum mounds. This will
directly affect the endangered
Corroboree Frog.
Further Information
Canberra Connect: 13 22 81
Website: www.tams.act.gov.au
Produced by ACT Parks Conservation and Lands, part of the
Department of Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS).
Integrated land management conserves biodiversity and supports an
enjoyable, healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
Damage to these wetlands by feral
horses therefore has the potential to
impair the ACT water quality and
quantity.
The impacts don’t sound very bad so
why remove the horses?
Prevention is the objective. By
intervening while there is only a small
number of horses involved, serious
impacts can be prevented.
Horse numbers are increasing. Without
management, horse numbers in NNP
would be predicted to exceed the 200
that were present in the early sixties.
As numbers increase, impacts will
become more severe. Horses would
move further into NNP and also damage
other sub-alpine wetlands.
Acting now results in a better outcome
for animal welfare because fewer horses
have to be removed.
How can horses affect the
endangered Northern Corroboree
Frog?
Several of the sub-alpine sphagnum
bogs within NNP provide habitat for the
endangered Northern Corroboree Frog.
All of these bogs were damaged by the
2003 bushfires, severely reducing the
available habitat for Corroboree Frogs.
Recovery of these areas will be
extremely slow and further disturbance
such as that from feral animals, including
horses, could contribute to the extinction
of the Northern Corroboree Frog.
Don’t snowfalls like those of 1964 act
as a natural method of reducing horse
numbers?
Heavy snow packs no longer effectively
limit horse numbers in NNP. It is also
preferable to prevent environmental
damage before horse numbers are
allowed to increase
Feral horses are not the only
introduced animals damaging NNP.
Why don’t you control all the feral
pigs and other pests first?
Feral pigs, foxes and rabbits have been
subject to wide-scale control programs
for decades within NNP. Acting now
while horses are in low numbers will
remove the requirement for similar
longterm, wide-scale programs against
feral horses. An advantage of horses
over these smaller, faster breeding
species is that control methods directed
against each animal individually are
effective.
This may be expensive, how does it
compare with other feral animal
control programs?
Control of feral horses can be more
humane and prevent more damage with
lower cost, than many other types of pest
control.
Aren’t wild horses as much a part of
our natural heritage as Corroboree
Frogs or other native species?
Horses are not native to Australia. They
were introduced at the time of European
colonisation. In this respect they are no
different to other hoofed livestock. They
are feral animals (having descended
from domestic animals that escaped or
were released), along with pigs, deer,
feral goats and feral cattle.
Could wild horses be considered part
of the European heritage of NNP?
In the post-war period prior to 1964,
(when heavy snowfall almost eradicated
feral horses) ‘brumby running’ became a
recreational activity. There are old horse
yards remaining within NNP that serve
as a reminder of that episode of
European heritage associated with feral
horses.
Feral horses were being removed by
graziers from the area that now
comprises NNP as early as the
late1800s to reduce competition with
stock grazing.
How is the ACT Government
proposing to manage feral horses in
NNP?
The NNP Feral Horse Management Plan
2007 indicates that as many as possible
of the feral horses will be removed by
capturing them in a trap yard followed by
euthanasia, with the remainder to be
removed by aerial shooting. If required,
aerial shooting will only be conducted by
marksmen and helicopter pilots that are
highly experienced in this technique.
NSW has banned aerial shooting in
National Parks. Why would aerial
shooting still be contemplated in the
ACT?
All feral horse management will be
carried out strictly in accordance with all
relevant Codes of Practice and Standard
Operating Procedures.
Aerial shooting will only take place if
trapping and euthanasing is not effective.
Are these methods humane?
These methods are the most humane
and effective methods that are suited
for this type of remote terrain and
vegetation. They accord with the new
Model Code of Practice for the Humane
Control of Feral Horses and represent
current best practice for the animals. A
sedative is administered by darting prior
to euthanasia so as to minimise stress
when several horses are captured in a
yard together.
Can’t these horses be re-homed?
Even if horses were led out to trucks
and then transported from the Park, the
ultimate fate of the majority will probably
be slaughter rather than re-homing. This
is because it is generally only very young
feral horses that are suitable for
domestication and re-homing.
What will happen to any foals that are
caught?
Aerial surveillance prior to trapping will
establish if there are any dependent
foals associated with the horses groups.
Any foals trapped with mares will be
euthanased at the trap yard. If foals are
observed with groups but are not caught
in the trap yard, all trapped mares will be
checked to ensure that none are
lactating. If a lactating mare is caught
without a foal and there is no possibility
of locating the foal the mare will be
released to avoid orphaning of a
dependent foal.
Why don’t you use horse wranglers to
catch the horses and lead them out to
transport?
Trapping feral horses away from vehicle
access and leading them to a horse float
has proved to be too difficult in similar
terrain in NSW.
It is also much more humane to
euthanase feral horses at the point of
capture than to subject them to being
led across country and then trucked long
distances.
This policy is supported by the RSPCA
(National Office) and by the Model Code
of Practice for the Humane Control of
Feral Horses.
Can’t fences be built to stop feral
horses entering NNP from Kosciuszko
National Park?
This has been tried and did not work.
The fences extended across open land
into thick vegetation at either end.
Horses pushed through thick vegetation
and found ways around the fences.
Damage to fences from falling trees was
also a problem in the remote sites.
Longer runs of wire fencing (tens of
kilometres), or electric fencing, would be
impractical in these sites.