Australia yesterday said the culling of wild horses in a unique national park would be banned despite fears the animals are threatening native species.
An estimated 6,000 feral horses, known locally as “brumbies,” live in Kosciuszko National Park, a UNESCO-recognized biosphere reserve about 470km south of Sydney that has plant species found nowhere else in the world.
Conservationists have called for the brumbies to be culled, saying the introduced animals are causing environmental damage and that their rising numbers are posing a growing threat.
In 2016, the New South Wales (NSW) state government released a plan to cull 90 percent of brumbies at Kosciuszko, but they have since U-turned, deciding the horses are part of the “cultural fabric” of the region and should be protected instead.
“Wild brumbies have been roaming the Australian alps for almost 200 years and are part of the cultural fabric and folklore of the high country,” NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said in a statement.
“The heritage management plan will specifically prohibit lethal culling of the brumby, aerial or otherwise, and will identify those areas in the park where brumbies can roam without causing significant environmental harm,” he said.
Brumbies found roaming in parts of the park where they could destroy native wildlife would be relocated or rehomed, Barilaro added.
The horses were introduced to Kosciuszko, which spans 6,900km2 and is home to the famous Snowy River, in the 19th century.
The river is associated in many locals’ minds with wild horses and celebrated in 19th century Australian poet A.B. “Banjo” Paterson’s iconic poem The Man From Snowy River, which also inspired a popular movie in the 1980s of the same name.
The new plan, to be introduced as a bill before the end of this month, came just weeks after the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee recommended that habitat loss caused by brumbies be deemed a “key threatening process.”
“Too many [brumbies] are trashing Kosciuszko’s wetlands, streams and catchments across the entire park,” Australian National University conservation specialist Graeme Worboys told public broadcaster ABC.
Worboys supported the 2016 cull plan, adding: “It only takes a couple of horses and time to trash a wetland.”
Millions of non-indigenous animals roam Australia’s vast continent including camels, donkeys, pigs, rabbits, cats and goats.
With few natural predators and vast sparsely populated areas in which to live, their populations have soared, putting pressure on native species by preying on them, competing for food, destroying habitats and spreading disease.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese