14 July 2025

Petition launched against MP's wild horse culling bill, claims made other animals damaging farmland

| By Erin Hee
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KNP brumby fillies.

An activist has put forward a petition to stop Wagga MP Joe McGirr from repealing the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act. Photo: Gail Eastaway.

CONTENT WARNING: The following story contains pictures of deceased animals that some people may find distressing.

A resident from The Rock has started an online petition to NSW Parliament against a bill by Wagga MP Joe McGirr that enables the culling of more wild horses in the Snowy Mountains. She has argued that environmental damage is being done by other animals.

Photographer Georgina Gorman’s ‘Stop the repeal of the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018e-petition, launched on Thursday (10 July), will be presented by Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst. If it gains 20,000 signatures, the parliament will be obliged to debate it. The petition gained just over 500 signatures in its first 24 hours.

Dr McGirr’s bill seeks to overturn a bill by former deputy premier John Barilaro, which recognised the heritage value of the brumbies and sought to preserve their presence in the Snowy Mountains by retaining 3000 horses across designated areas within the Kosciuszko National Park.

“Horses cause major damage to the alpine landscape, trampling wetlands and destroying habitat so it makes no sense to continue with a law that effectively requires that damage to continue,” Dr McGirr said.

The view is challenged by Ms Gorman.

READ ALSO Wagga MP to introduce new law to end protections of Snowy Mountain brumbies

“So the animals that Dr Joe keeps saying that the horses do damage to, the corroborree frog, resides in [an] area of Kosciusko, which is higher than where the brumbies are,” she said.

“The Southern corroboree frog is only found in Mount Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains at heights of 1300 metres to 1760 metres above sea level.

“Taronga Zoo has been doing a successful breeding program and releasing the frogs in the wild for many years.”

The Kosciuszko National Park is home to a number of endangered wildlife species and fauna, including the critically endangered corroborree frog, which has a high risk of extinction due to its very small population size, further made worse by climate change, diseases and damage to breeding sites by feral pigs and horses.

While the population of this frog species is declining mainly due to the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis, research from environmental group Reclaim Kosci found the trampling by feral horses significantly impacted the quality of breeding sites for these frogs in 2018.

Wild horses that are not native to the environment are considered pests because of the damage they cause to the environment, according to the NSW Government’s Environment and Heritage department.

“The brumbies don’t go anywhere near the farmland. The farmland is fenced off,” Ms Gorman said.

“There’s wild deer, wild pigs and rabbits that do access the farmland and they do damage.

“The pigs have destroyed the creeks and the water banks; they forage for their food, so they dig up the ground, which destroys the ground and the environment.”

Ms Gorman supplied Region with photos she said were taken in the aftermath of the aerial shooting authorised by the NSW Government in October 2023.

“These were taken when the gates to Long Plain were opened,” she said.

“Carcasses were left in waterways to pollute the water. These waterways flow into the Murumbidgee River.”

READ ALSO Hikers rescued from blizzard conditions in Kosciuszko National Park

University of New England Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Biology Professor Karl Vernes told TuneFM he had seen the environmental impact brumbies could cause.

“[Brumbies] chew the bark of trees and ringbark trees. In certain places in the Guy Fawkes, you find entire stands of trees that have been killed from ringbarking,” he said.

“They create erosion, and can spread weeds throughout the park.

“There are definite impacts that horses have, and the bigger the population, the bigger the impact.

“Wildlife managers aren’t cold, heartless humans. They typically love the animals that they’re studying.

“I’ve flown these transects in the park and I look down at these horses and think they are beautiful animals.

“It’s just a pity they don’t belong here.”

Ms Gorman said she wanted to save the brumbies.

“The reason why I went ahead with it was because of all the media sharing what Dr Joe’s done on Facebook and all the comments were against Dr Joe and his petition,” she said.

Anyone residing within NSW can sign the petition here, which will close on 2 October.

Original Article published by Erin Hee on Region Riverina.

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I think Mr McLeod succinctly sums it up. Unlike wordy nonsense that seems to think slaughtering sentient animals is fine if they are “introduced”. Ban the trout next? Loony and verbose is on the money.

Interesting words from Richard McLeod to describe people who actually care more about the environment than a few inbred horses. ‘Loony zealots’. Loony would suggest a level of mental derangement on the matter but from what I have observed those supporting horse removal provide logical and measured debate. On the other hand I often see the hysterical and illogical thrown around with a good measure of falsehood (read – nothing based on truth) from the horse supporters. Am I loony also? There would not be any need for NPWS to shoot horses if there was not the level of resistance from the real loony horses supporters who have hamstrung efforts by that department to control horse numbers going back decades. Countless unsuccessful court matters and even dismantling trap yards. You want to talk about loony zealots then look no further than those who think any horse is a magical animal that does no damage with which they have an unwavering love affair. As someone who has a deep love for horses, with 5 decades behind me including eventing and dressage as well as droving and stockwork plus a degree in agricultural science, I am uniquely positioned to comment. Feral animals of any kind have no place in our national parks and I support every effort to get rid of them. That is not loony, it is simply common sense.

Richard McLeod9:40 am 18 Jul 25

Such mindless cruelty driven by the usual loony zealots.

patricia gardiner5:17 pm 16 Jul 25

All power to you Dr McGirr.
How Mr Barilaro was able to push through such an absurd piece of legislation is beyond comprehension.

I think Mr. Waldock speaks some true words when he talks about the horses left behind in days gone by. They were left for many reasons but mostly because they no longer had any value to the people who bred them. The Army was not paying enough for horses and machinery was taking over. Those in the ‘days gone by’ also shot feral horses in the thousands because they were considered a pest. Banjo Paterson wouldn’t take them. You might recall he was in charge of the remounts. Paterson also participated in horse culls. The people who left the horses in the mountains could not care about their fate and had no more interest in them than their economic value. They also didn’t care about any damage horses did as long as they turned a profit. Unlike many who comment about the matter, I actually visit the places where horses are causing the damage. The mountains are actually my home. The attitude Mr. Waldock expresses is very typical of horse supporters. Quite sad really. The tiny frogs don’t matter. Neither does anything else other than their own selfish interest.

Here we go again, pro Brumby advocates trying to question the science, spreading misinformation & now saying it’s everything else but the horses to blame for any damage. All feral plants & animals do not belong in our National Park, which is for our very precious native fauna & flora.

wayne waldock3:10 pm 14 Jul 25

well stone the crows,a desk dweller has spoken,get rid of the horses.as iv’e said before,get those who want to destroy animals that were left there in days gone by,get into a horse costume and mix with those horses and wait to cop a bullet that may kill you out right,or leave you to die in agony,I doubt you, like all of the other pick handles would have the balls to do that.As for dr Mcgirr,sorry doc[you were there for me in days gone by BUT] I’ve got to speak up in defence of those horses.again pigs,goats,and any other none native animal was left there,with no concern for tomorrow,I just can’t believe the so-called RSPCA are not running around,I no longer donate to their calls for $s.sad for those frogs though.maybe move them?.. good luck to the anti horse killers.W Waldock

I have read this story thoroughly a number of times and still can’t work out what Ms Gorman’s reference to farmland relates to. How does it relates to the removal of horses from the National Park? Anyway, nobody disputes the damage pigs and deer do. The real problem is getting these people to admit the animal they have such a romantic fondness for does any damage at all. Ms Gorman makes a case to keep horses based on a claim that horses are not found over 1300m and frogs are only found above 1300m. Both these claims are false. For example, horses are found in abundance at Kiandra which is 1400m asl. Southern Corroboree frogs have been found at 1000m and the first ever found was located at Towong Hill Station near Corryong. It is clear the frog’s habitat has shrunk and I doubt the fungus threatening it now was the cause of that. Horses cause significant damage to stream banks and also over graze the native grasses that provide protection to native animals. Time they were all gone.

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