2024-08-21
The Supreme court has dismissed an attempt to halt aerial shooting of feral horses in the Kosciuszko National Park and ordered that the Snowy Mountain Bush Users Group pay the legal fees of the Government.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “This is a strong judgement in favour of the aerial shooting of a feral species in the Kosciuszko National Park,”
“It is unsurprising to me that the Court found that there was no evidence that the horses were being killed in a way that was causing unnecessary pain. The case provides a clear, strong and independent view on all of the evidence that the Governments aerial shooting program is humane and can be relied upon for this necessary feral horse control,”
“The Court recognised the scientific evidence that feral horses are a key threat to our globally significant and only Alpine National Park in NSW, including native species threatened with extinction, and that suspending the program would threaten the environment,”
“The current requirement to retain 3,000 feral horses in the National Park is inconsistent with international and national principles of protected area management and something that the Greens do not support. The Government really needs to urgently reassess this requirement. We should be working towards having no feral species in our National Parks, and it is time to face the facts that the law that protects the horses in Kosciuszko was made on very dubious political grounds and should be repealed,”
“Feral species control and management should always be as humane as possible, but this cannot be used as an excuse for not using lethal measures where it is scientifically justified. It is clear from all of the evidence that aerial shooting of horses in Kosciuszko is being conducted humanely and is necessary, otherwise we stand to lose something that is not replaceable, the ecosystems function and health, including the many threatened species and all of the water, of our globally significant Kosciuszko National Park, ”
“The Government should continue to invest in research programs that are looking for non-lethal horse control, but we cannot afford to not take action while that happens. Shooting of horses is not a cause for celebration, no one is happy that it’s necessary, but I am glad that the Court has ruled the way it has, objectively and upon all of the evidence and upheld the Government’s program to reduce horses by aerial culling in Kosciuszko,” Ms Higginson said.