To: The NSW Government, particularly the NSW Minister for the Environment and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, responsible for the management of Kosciuszko National Park and the NSW wild horse management program.
Protect Australia's Heritage Wild Horses
Protect Australia's Heritage Wild Horses
Australia's wild horses are facing a crisis that deserves national attention.
In Kosciuszko National Park, thousands of wild horses have been killed through aerial shooting as part of a NSW Government program to reduce their numbers. The scale of the killing, the methods being used and the population estimates underpinning these decisions raise serious questions about whether Australia is managing these animals on the basis of transparent, independently verifiable evidence.
This is not simply a debate about whether wild horses have environmental impacts. It is a question of how a modern Australian government should make decisions that result in the mass killing of animals, particularly where the scientific evidence is contested and population estimates have shown substantial variation.
The NSW Government's own published figures demonstrate just how uncertain the population estimates can be. The estimated Kosciuszko horse population changed dramatically between survey years, including a reported 2024 estimate of approximately 2,131–5,639 horses followed by a 2025 estimate of approximately 6,476–16,411 horses. Such substantial variation demands transparency, independent scrutiny and public confidence in the methodology before those figures are used to justify large-scale lethal control.
There are also important questions about what the aerial surveys actually observe. Aerial surveys do not constitute a simple census: horses can be missed, survey areas vary, detection probabilities must be modelled, and horse movements can affect results. Independent scrutiny of the methodology is therefore essential.
Our own spatial analysis of aerial survey flight data is now examining the relationship between the actual flight paths, the designated retention zones and the horses visually observed during the survey. The preliminary observations are striking: 90 horses were visually observed in the northern retention area and only 3 in the southern area. We are using the actual mapped flight paths to determine what proportion of each retention zone was within the survey corridor and what population densities would have to exist in areas that were not covered by the survey to support substantially larger population estimates.
This analysis is not being undertaken to manufacture a predetermined result. Its purpose is to ask a simple and important question:
Where are the horses if the much larger population estimates are correct?
That question deserves an independently reproducible answer.
There is another reason this issue deserves national attention. The Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018, which formally recognised the heritage value of sustainable wild horse populations in parts of Kosciuszko National Park, has now been repealed. Australia therefore faces a significant policy question: should animals that have formed part of Australia's cultural and pastoral history for generations simply lose any meaningful heritage protection?
We believe the answer should be no.
We are asking GetUp to consider a national campaign to establish a protected Australian Wild Horse Heritage Sanctuary system, beginning with appropriate areas of Kosciuszko National Park.
The objective would not be to ignore environmental impacts or abandon responsible population management. Instead, it would establish a different model:
- protected sanctuary areas for sustainable heritage wild horse populations;
- no aerial shooting within designated sanctuary areas;
- transparent and independently reviewed population surveys;
- publication of the underlying survey data and methodology;
- independent scientific review where population estimates change substantially;
- investigation and use of humane population-management methods;
- independent monitoring of environmental impacts;
- recognition of the cultural and historical significance of Australia's heritage wild horses; and
- evidence-based management of horses outside designated sanctuary areas where necessary.
At the heart of this campaign is a simple principle:
Australia should not kill thousands of animals on the basis of numbers that the public cannot independently scrutinise.
Before more horses are shot from helicopters, Australians deserve to know exactly how many horses there are, where they are, how the numbers were calculated, what uncertainty surrounds those estimates, and whether less destructive alternatives have been properly investigated.
This is an opportunity for GetUp to turn a divisive environmental debate into a national campaign about government transparency, scientific integrity, animal welfare and the preservation of Australian heritage.
We are asking GetUp to stand for an independently verifiable evidence base, an end to indiscriminate aerial killing within designated heritage sanctuary areas, and the creation of a new national framework that protects Australia's heritage wild horses while requiring responsible environmental management.
Give Australia's heritage wild horses a place to survive. Establish protected sanctuary areas. Make the data transparent. Stop killing first and asking questions later.
Why is this important?
Thousands of Australia's heritage wild horses are being killed in Kosciuszko National Park, including by aerial shooting, while serious questions remain about the accuracy, uncertainty and interpretation of the population data being used to justify this program.
The NSW Government's own published horse estimates have varied dramatically between survey years. There are also important questions about survey coverage, horse detection and movement, and how population estimates are derived from aerial observations. These issues matter because decisions based on uncertain numbers are resulting in the deaths of thousands of animals.
This is not an argument against protecting Australia's national parks or managing genuine environmental impacts. It is a demand for transparent, independently verifiable science and humane management.
The Australian public should be able to see the evidence behind decisions to kill thousands of animals. Independent experts should be able to reproduce the analysis, scrutinise the assumptions and investigate significant discrepancies in population estimates.
There is also a heritage issue. Australia's wild horses have a long association with the Australian Alps and have been recognised in NSW law as having heritage value. The repeal of the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act has removed that specific statutory protection.
We believe Australia should establish protected Wild Horse Heritage Sanctuary areas where sustainable populations can be preserved, independently monitored and managed humanely, while environmental impacts outside sanctuary areas continue to be responsibly addressed.
This campaign is about more than brumbies. It is about government accountability, scientific integrity, animal welfare and Australia's cultural heritage.
Before another horse is shot from a helicopter, Australians deserve reliable evidence about how many horses actually exist, where they are, how the numbers were calculated and whether humane alternatives have been properly considered.
