Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Oz to kill thousands of horses, but scientists say it isn't enough (equine survival)

#1
C C Offline
https://gizmodo.com/australia-plans-to-k...1847989351

EXCERPTS: . . . Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales is home to an estimated 14,380 wild horses. The large herbivores, with their hard hooves, trample the delicate vegetation and disturb the landscape. For this is kangaroo and wallaby country—not horse country—so the local ecosystem suffers as a result.

As they roam free, the thousands of feral horses, known as brumbies to Australians, send cascading waves of despair through the ecosystem, threatening stocky galaxias fish, alpine tree frogs, Riek’s crayfish, broad-toothed rats, among many other native species. Should nothing be done about the brumbies, their numbers could reach upwards of 20,000 in the park by 2022, according to an open letter sent to NSW environment minister Matt Kean late last month.

The letter, penned by 15 scientists and signed by 69 supportive researchers and scientific societies, argues that a newly revised government plan to cull 10,000 wild horses doesn’t go far enough, as it would still allow 3,000 horses to inhabit one-third of the park. These horses would continue to threaten endangered species and the local ecology as a whole, the scientists argue [...] Most horses will be shot from the ground, but some will be relocated to other areas.

The decision to retain so many horses has to do with the animals’ perceived heritage value, which stems from “pioneering history and pastoralism,” “traditional mountain practices [...],” ... and also “legends, stories and myths of the Snowy Mountains,” according to the plan. Also, specific types of wild horses are deemed to have heritage value...

[...] The 2016 draft management plan called for an eventual population of roughly 600 horses, but as the Sydney Morning Herald reported last month, the government seems to have been swayed by “community groups eager to promote the horses’ heritage value.”

The authors of the open letter are questioning the need to retain so many wild horses in the park, especially given that conservationists will now have to continually kill these horses to keep the growing population in check... (MORE - missing details)
Reply
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  McGyver? EDC and urban survival pack (Survival Lilly) C C 0 35 Mar 15, 2024 06:34 PM
Last Post: C C
  Which type of survival shelter is the best? (Survival Lilly) C C 0 60 Mar 8, 2024 07:33 AM
Last Post: C C
  Survival guide to the future from 1997: predictions about this era (Survival Lilly) C C 1 189 Feb 24, 2024 02:13 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos
  The ultimate survival kit (Survival Lilly) C C 1 143 Nov 24, 2023 02:40 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos
  Say goodbye to cash: This is how your freedom will end (Survival Lilly) C C 3 205 Oct 30, 2023 01:33 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos
  Article Climate change: Fossil fuels must stay underground, scientists say confused2 1 94 Sep 13, 2023 05:37 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos
  Article Survival kit for the tropics (Survival Lilly) C C 0 120 Aug 12, 2023 11:09 PM
Last Post: C C
  What is inside a Survival Cache? (Survival Lilly) C C 1 90 Jul 25, 2023 07:57 PM
Last Post: Magical Realist
  12 survival skills everyone should know (Survival Lilly) C C 0 72 Jun 17, 2023 10:35 PM
Last Post: C C
  Research Military survival kit BCB (Survival Lilly) C C 0 71 Mar 12, 2023 10:43 PM
Last Post: C C



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)