Feral horses are a serious problem in many national parks, such as Kosciuszko and Barrington Tops National Parks. The horses pose many threats, including:
- Despoilation of the natural environment through trampling of delicate ecosystems
- Introduction and spread of weeds
- Threats to humans from aggressive behaviour
- Aesthetic issues such as huge piles of dung literally every few metres
- Creating large erosion gullies
- Damage to unfenced historic sites
- Pollution of waterways making them unfit to drink without serious purification treatment
Bushwalking NSW believes that feral horses do not belong in natural areas. To that end it developed a policy for “removal of all feral horses from all the State’s natural areas”.
The policy provides an implementation plan for achieving this goal.
For details, please refer to the full policy.
Recent studies have estimated that there are up to 14100 horses in Kosciusko NP in 2014. The growth rate in numbers is approximately 21% per year.
Large numbers of bushwalkers across NSW and the ACT have taken action online and in the streets to seek the repeal of the NSW State Government’s 2018 Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act which gives feral horses greater rights than native animals. See the video that was made about the 35 day protest walk from Sydney to Mt Kosci here: Save Kosci Walk Celebrates at the Summit.
See myths and facts about Feral Horses, and how you can help on the Reclaim Kosci website where the campaign continues: Reclaim Kosci.