Tag: environmental impacts

Indigenous custodians divided over the fate of wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park

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Opinions are divided amongst Ngarigo custodians, whose traditional lands occupy Kosciuszko National Park, about a proposal to manage wild horses in the NSW high country. University of Sydney Professor and Ngarigo woman Jakelin Troy wants zero horses in the park, but as a horse lover herself she can appreciate why the issue has caused so much debate. The most recent survey found there were more than 14,000 brumbies in the park, But some don’t agree, believing the numbers to be much lower after the Black Summer bushfires. “They’re only plucking numbers out of mid-air,” says Andrew Wilesmith, who is a member of the… Continue reading

ABA Spring Newsletter OUT NOW!

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The Spring Edition of Brumby Bridges is now available for your reading pleasure. In this issue: President’s Chat The Mega Problem of Large Herbivore Decline Introducing new ABA Member Bluewater Brumbies Book Review – Brumby Wars Australia’s Fortress Conservation is Outdated Brumbies in the Media – ABC Landline Southern Cross Brumby DNA Registry News from Save the Brumbies Continue reading

The Mega Problem of Large Herbivore Decline

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There is a sad and important story unfolding. Climate change and human activity – including hunting,poaching, land-use change and resource depression by livestock – is closing in on the world’s megafaunaand in some corners of the globe, particularly in developing countries, many are under threat ofextinction. A growing area of research is showing that large terrestrial herbivores are crucial to ecosystems andhuman societies and their decline has cascading effects on other species. The rate of decline suggeststhat increasing areas of the world will soon lack many of the vital ecological services these animalsprovide, resulting in significant ecological and social costs…. Continue reading

Alpine brumbies: destructive feral hoofed beasts or a heritage breed to protect?

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The Guardian, 27 June 2021 While both sides of the Brumby debate are presented, it is a shame that this article in the Guardian highlights Jamie Pittock’s comment that ‘…arguments that horses have any positive impact on the landscape are “utter scientific garbage”…’ when in truth he doesn’t have a clue. That is because most ecological research on wild horses in Australia does not examine whether there are any positive impacts. It is assumed all impacts are negative and the research is biased around this assumption. So, Dr PIttock, it seems that the only “utter scientific garbage” in this article… Continue reading