More than 10,000 wild horses will be shot in the Kosciuszko nature reserve in southeastern Australia in the coming years. It is the culmination of years of debate about what to do with the wild horses, which some experts consider a pest and others as cultural heritage.
“They’ve eaten everything away. It makes me deeply sad,” said Richard Swain, an aboriginal guide in the national park. He has been coming to the nature reserve for years and has seen how the horse population has grown exponentially. Where tourists see idyllically frolicking horses, he notices the devastation the animals leave behind.
Endangered native animals
Coming all over Australia at least 400,000 wild horses for, the largest population in the world. In Kosciuszko, a nature reserve the size of a third of the Netherlands, there are more than 14,000 wild horses.
They cause erosion, spread weeds and compete with native animals for habitat and food. The state government has therefore recently decided to reduce the population to 3000 in the coming years. The remaining animals are still allowed to run around freely.
According to experts, that plan does not go far enough. There is no doubt among scientists: the horses are a scourge and must all be shot. “Horses have no place in this landscape. They are heavy beasts weighing an average of 400 kilos. They trample the native plants and destroy the habitats of critically endangered native animals,” said Professor James Pittock of the Australian National University in Canberra.
Critically endangered species in this area include the yellow-black-striped corroboree kikker, of which scientists believe there are only between fifty and two hundred left. Or the mastacomys, a small one possum and a unique lizard species, the Alpine she-oak skink. A number of unique Australian flowers and grasses are also threatened.
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