Don’t eradicate the brumby population completely, don’t shoot them and leave them in the bush and let people with local bush knowledge do any culling.

That is the general consensus of a range of locals with experience of brumbies in the mountains, providing a rational voice amid the clamour since Parks Victoria was given the okay to cull wild horses.

On May 8, The Australian Brumby Alliance lost a court case against Parks Victoria to stop the organisation removing horses from the Bogong High Plains and Alpine National Park, particularly objecting to the horses being shot.

Omeo’s Phil Maguire brought an injunction, but last Friday it was ruled he did not have the standing and the case was dismissed, with Justice Stephen Moore ruling Parks Victoria was not required to consult with the community in relation to culling brumbies.

Omeo’s Charles Connley, whose family members have caught wild horses on the Bogongs for many years, has labeled that judgement a “dark day in history”, saying the ruling had left him “gutted and angry”.

“In short, Parks Victoria thinks it can do what it likes and doesn’t have to listen to anyone,” Mr Connley said.

“They are hell bent on removing all horses from the Bogongs regardless of community objection.”

Mr Connley also takes issue with the number of brumbies Parks Victoria claims are in the High Country, believing the number is far less than 25,000, a figure he says is “completely blown out of proportion”.

He was a member of a riding party that recently rode in the Bogong High Plains where he says they saw less than 30 brumbies.

Jock Sievers, 70, of Benambra, has caught

brumbies alongside brumby runners like Ken Connley, Craig Orchard and Dean Backman and has also worked in the bush as a logging contractor for 35 years.

He agrees the numbers on the Bogongs aren’t huge, possibly 120, and says back in the day there were half a dozen men catching 50 to 100 each a year which kept numbers in check.

“They still need to be taken out but they don’t need to be shot,” Mr Sievers said.

“You need the right cannon and you need to be in the right spot to shoot them.

“It’s a complete waste to let them rot on the ground.”

Mr Sievers estimates he’s given away a hundred horses over the past 20 years, having caught blue, roan and coloured horses.

He has a mob of 30 or so brumbies on his property that he’s caught and knows re-homing every animal is disillusioned.

“You can’t re-home 10-year-old mares and stallions,” he said.

“They will either kill themselves or hurt someone.”

The gates to the Alpine areas will be locked by Parks Victoria on June 8.

The Age newspaper reported Parks Victoria would not commence culling before June 9 and planned to deploy small teams of professional shooters, overseen by veterinarians, to cull horses in remote areas during the night with thermal imaging and silenced guns.

BRUMBY RUNNING SOLUTION

The recent riding trip to the Bogongs showed Charles Connley all the evidence he needed.

“The Bogong High Plains is Parks Victoria’s holy grail, they wish to erase all traces of heritage with grossly exaggerated claims of damage,” Mr Connley said.

“We saw almost every bog, peat marsh and everything else Parks Victoria holds so dear, devastated by fire and every one we came across I looked for signs of hoof prints or horse damage. There was none. Not even one foot print.

“If you dare say you don’t believe the horses do any significant damage you are called an environmental vandal, a science denier.

“But how can you have any faith in the science when it is saying the exact opposite to what your own eyes see?Science with an agenda is not science.”

Mr Connley said of 7443 square kilometres the report ‘Feral Horses in the Australian Alps: the Analysis of Aerial Surveys Conducted in April-May, 2014 and April-May 2019’ encompassed, 5450 square kilometres was actually flown over.

“Approximately two thirds of that was in New South Wales, the rest in the north eastern sections of Victoria north of Buchan and east of Benambra.

“This area is known as the Eastern Alps and includes Limestone, Cowombat, and bordering parts of Nunniong. None of it included the Bogong High Plains,” he said.

“The actual count of horses detected in this massive area, in their own report, was 1748. Yes, less than 2000 in 5000sqkm. Somehow, after many pages, that count extrapolates to an estimate of 25,318 total horses.

“The numbers are total rubbish.”

The solution is to let the good riders catch them or run them into trap yards. “Let the good guys continue their job.”

Someone with experience with wild horses in those Eastern Alps is Jo Rogers, niece of renowned bushman and cattleman, John ‘Buff’ Rogers, who believes management should include shooting.

“I still think they need to be managed,” Ms Rogers said.

“You’ve got to be realistic.”

Ms Rogers estimates 500 to 800 horses were shot a year by cattlemen throughout the Suggan Buggan, McFarlane’s Flat and Ingeegoodbee areas, curbing numbers.

“The most humane way is on horses from close range,” she said.

“Not every brumby is tameable. A select group of horsemen shooting at close range, possibly followed up by a group that cuts up the carcases could be a solution.

“It’s a nonsense to eradicate them completely.

“Brumbies need to be managed by people who know the areas like Kosciuszko, the Bogongs, Cobberas and Playgrounds, they’re the ones who should be doing the culling on horses.”

IMAGE: High Country locals are providing a rational voice amid the clamour since Parks Victoria was given the okay to cull brumbies.