The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has finalised its plan for the management of wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
Announcing the release of NPWS’s Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan, Minister for the Environment, Matt Kean said the Plan struck a balance between protecting the heritage value of the wild horses and maintaining the conservation values of the State’s largest national park.
“Kosciusko National Park is a very special place that needs to be protected for future generations,” Mr Kean said.
“Today we release a Plan that will finally provide protection for the numerous threatened species and the suite of important alpine and sub-alpine ecosystems that call Kosciuszko National Park home,” he said.
“Based on consultation with scientific and community representatives, Aboriginal stakeholders and over 4,000 public submissions, we can finally deliver a clear direction for one of the most special environments anywhere in the country.”
Mr Kean said the Plan provided for a staged reduction in the overall wild horse population from an estimated 14,380 horses to 3,000 horses by 30 June 2027.
The Minister said the Plan specified three horse management areas, one which wild horses would continue to occupy (32 per cent of the Park); one where horses would be removed (21 per cent); and one which was currently free of horses and would be kept free (47 per cent).
He said the removal of wild horses would occur in accordance with best practice animal welfare requirements.
“The areas in which horses may continue to occur are those areas with the strongest links to wild horse heritage values and are areas with connections to historic pastoralism, brumby running and include wild horses derived from historic pastoral populations,” Mr Kean said.
“The removal and exclusion of wild horses from designated areas, and the reduction in the overall population, will provide effective protection from the impacts of wild horses for many threatened species.”
Mr Kean said annual surveys of the wild horse population would help monitor progress toward the targets in the Plan.
NPWS’s 30-page Management Plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
