Parks Victoria has released a new plan to reduce feral horse impacts and protect the Alpine National Park.
A Parks Victoria spokesperson said the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 detailed an approach to feral horse management that was built on knowledge and experience.
“The threats and pressures on the health of the Alpine National Park have been exacerbated in recent years by damage from feral horses, deer and other feral animals, extensive habitat loss from the Black Summer bushfires, accelerated impacts of climate change and the limited progress of previous feral horse management methods,” the spokesperson said.
“Many aspects of the management approach remain unchanged from the previous Plan: The need to control feral horses in the national park; major impacts on the natural environment; the legislative and moral obligations to undertake this work; and the availability of a range of control methods that can be used,” they said.
“A key component of the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 is to maximise rehoming opportunities for captured horses.”
The spokesperson said to date, there had been limited response to repeated and direct public calls for interest in the program, “so additional control methods will be necessary to reduce the damage caused by feral horses”.
They said the preferred methods of managing feral horses included trapping and rehoming, tightly managed shooting and the construction of small-scale exclusion fences.
“It is critically important to increase efforts to protect this rare and sensitive landscape which has been in decline for decades,” they said.
“Parks Victoria is committed to rehoming as many feral horses as possible and requires the community’s help to broaden and improve the feral horse rehoming program,” the spokesperson said.
Parks Victoria’s 48-page Action Plan can be downloaded at this PS News link.
