As expected, Penny Sharpe did not respond to Rod Roberts request for confirmation of the brumby count result.
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lc/papers/pages/qanda-tracking-details.aspx?pk=102822
We have raised our concern with Rob Roberts and the media about the fact that she is refusing to release the brumby numbers from the November count, even when raised in Senate.
48 brumbies have been trapped and sent to rehomers in the last 2 weeks – and heaven knows how many have been trapped and gone to slaughter. If, in her words, the numbers are drastically reduced and there are only 3000 to 4000, why continue trapping and removing them until the formal count is released in April?
ABA Press Release
The President of the Australian Brumby Alliance (ABA), Nikki Alberts, today called for Penny Sharpe to publicly release the outcome of the brumby count held last November 24, after she revealed at Estimates earlier this month that the estimated population appeared to be now close to 3,000, or even less. Under the KNP Wild Horse Management Plan, 2018, the NSW Government is committed to retaining at least 3,000 brumbies in the Park to respect their cultural and heritage value
“The ABA also wants to know why NPWS is continuing to remove horses from the National Park, given this target has been reached through rushing through the slaughter of 7,000 horses mainly through aerial culling”, Mrs Alberts said. “We have heard that several iconic herds have been removed this week as NPWS continues its obvious efforts to extinguish the entire population of wild horses.” The ABA is aware that one of these herds, led by two roan stallions, is known to comprise survivors from the 2020 bushfires, who bonded and have stayed together since the fires near Three Mile Dam.
“The NSW Government and NPWS does not have the legal mandate to remove wild horses if they cannot confirm that there are at least 3,000 horses remaining.” she said.
The ABA calls on the NSW Government now to:
· Honour the retention of 3,000 wild horses in the Park and discontinue removal of horses from the Park until the next count.
· Restore a focus on the best animal welfare outcomes for future brumbies removed from the Park. This must be through passive trapping and rehoming to approved facilities, not through slaughter from the air or at knackeries.
· Discontinue aerial culling, given we now know the most recent population count has shown the numbers have been reduced to 3,000, following the brutal slaughter of the last 12 months; and to
· Assist small property owners in NSW who facilitate the rehoming groups of brumbies who are passively trapped in KNP.
“It feels like the Emperor’s New Clothes – the community has been led to believe there are thousands of horses up in the hills that no one has ever seen, reproducing at rates which equine scientists have pointed out are impossible”. Mrs Alberts said. “The ABA is dismayed that false information has been used to justify widespread, urgent aerial culling, resulting in the biggest slaughter of Australian horses since the end of World War One”. ABA has noted that NPWS were claiming as many as 23,000 brumbies were in the Park in 2022. Yet at most the population could have been no more than 10,000, if there really are 3,000 remaining, as according to NPSW 7,000 were removed in the 12 months prior to the count, most of whom through aerial slaughter.
For further information contact Nikki Alberts on 0434 493 090
