Victorian Alps Wild Horse Management Plan

[frenchy_84]

I agree with you Hallu that they need to get rid of them, but I don't think horse meat is the solution. Firstly I do not think no matter how well its marketed you will get the Aus public to eat it, ive eaten horse meat before and wouldn't trade in my beef for it and it would be very costly to get to the butchering stage. And I think there is marginal/no benefit on the humane argument. While there is a higher chance of a 'cleaner kill' there is the whole capturing and transporting issue with wild animals, I think its better to take the chance on a clean shot. Its amazing that the Dingo can be in Australia for over 4000 years and still be considered a feral pest, yet horses are considered sacred. We need a strong government (as if that's going to happen) that is prepared to make the unpopular decision for the long term benefit. Give these horse loving groups a month period when they can round up as many as they want and take them away to be kept in fenced paddocks and then get stuck in with a concerted effort to eradicate them and if the best way is by shooting from helicopters so be it.

[Hallu]

Australia usually doesn't rhyme with strong government unfortunately. Maybe it can be done at the state scale, after all Tasmania can be pretty tough on environmental issues, but it will never be a nation wide efforts, even though it should.

For having tasted properly raised and butchered specialty horse meat back in France, it is without a doubt as good as properly grass fed beef. The meat is unbelievably tender, less fatty, and juicy. I've never tried wild horse meat, it may be a lot tougher, but wild goat meat or wild camel meat are still very good in a stew. As a short term industry it's not viable of course, it would require a big commitment, a wide-spread "let's eat our pest" campaign (with a more glamorous slogan) not restricted to horses. If it won't happen, then let's get this over with and shoot them all. There's no point in letting even 100 of them live, the population will bounce back.

[maddog]

In the interests of conservation the heritage horses should probably be shot from helicopters, as koalas on Kangaroo Island (and kangaroos more generally) should be shot from the ground. Sterilisation is a waste of both time and money.

But after the precedent set by the Guy Fawkes debacle (and the Kangaroo Island one), this is difficult. The lesson learnt was that for a worthwhile conservation initiative to succeed, it must enjoy widespread public support. Without this, the initiative will amount to little more than an expensive public relations disaster.

Equally difficult would be a commercial return on horse meat farmed within national parks. The humanitarian justification for the capture and transport of wild heritage horses within national parks (rather than shooting them in situ), then to process them into dog food is contentious.

[Hallu]

The more I see this horse tradition over horse culling debate, the more I understand that here in Australia there are still too many people who think themselves as British colonists instead of real Aussies (or at least appear that way), in the sense that they'd rather protect an introduced species over native ones. We all fully accept that foxes, introduced by the British for fox hunting, should be exterminated in Australia. I've never seen people against it. That's an old "tradition" being revoked. And feral horses are the exact same thing, except as they are still being used in cattle stations and such, we can't let them go...

Maybe the "salvation" will come from a stronger group than environmentalists and bushwalkers, which are farmers. Apparently they carry sicknesses that are passed on to cattle and domestic horses ( http://www.environment.gov.au/biodivers ... -horse.pdf ). After all, this is why the camel problem is being taken seriously now : not because of plant damage, the government couldn't care less about that, but because of the damage brought to fences, water tanks, etc... in cattle stations.

[sambar358]

In my view there will be too much opposition to culling feral horses for the government to embrace it as a control method. This has happened in the past when horses were shot in the Kosi Park and the govt of the day copped plenty of heat over it....so much that I'd suspect that they'd still be pretty shy on trying it again....publically anyway. However, shooting is still the most effective method of control and if this issue is to be adequately addresses then the most effective method needs to be used.....not just something that appeases those who oppose a lethal method of control due to their somewhat distorted view of the place that the wild horse-brumby-feral horse has in our folk-law.

On my travels I see plenty of feral horses in the bush on both public land and in various state and national parks.....there is absolutely no doubt that their numbers are very high and building in most areas. Their presence is obvious and their well-established travel trails and plugging-up of alpine clearings and wetlands is pretty hard to miss. If the govt. are serious about addressing this then they need to make some hard and likely unpopular decisions....to do less is simply window-dressing and bowing to the will of popular opinion while the real issue remains largely untouched.

Eradication of any feral animal will never occur and the best outcome that can be achieved is some level of short-term control in some areas...to preach or expect eradication is fanciful in the extreme. In WA feral camels and donkeys are shot in their tens of 1000's each year yet they continue to survive and flourish and these are open country ferals more vulnerable to helicopter shooting than bush-dwellers such as our feral horses of the mountains. The absolute best outcome that can be expected by even a high level of aerial and ground shooting would be a temporary reduction in feral horse numbers in some areas....maybe several 1000...and of course these sorts of control methods need to be on-going and not feel-good one-offs. Eradication. will never occur IMO.... Feral horses like our pigs, goats, deer, rabbits, foxes,starlings, pigeons and many many more....are here to stay !

Utilizing the meat of culled feral horses is not a practical option in most situations as recovery would be difficult if not impossible in mountainous and remote terrain.....effective culling is about killing the most animals in the shortest time and the stark reality of this is that horses shot in the bush will be left to the scavengers and not recovered for human or pet-food usage. If there are 10,000+ feral horses in the Vic mountains then removing a couple of 100 or so via non-lethal methods is a total waste of time, money and resources.....but it will not upset anybody too much and I suspect that's one of the main aims of this exercise.

To address this issue with some effectiveness via culling will take a lot of time, money and effort and it will generate plenty of negitive publicity and upset lots of people. Because of this I doubt if this is really something that the government wants to seriously embrace. Once again....time will tell. Cheers

Sambar358