In Australia, they are going to kill 11 thousand horses to save nature
The Australian authorities have once again declared war on wild brumby horses inhabiting the Australian dry steppes. It is planned to shoot 10 thousand individuals that harm the unique ecosystems of the Green Continent. Horses, moving in large herds, destroy natural reliefs, contribute to the swamping of rivers and the extinction of entire species.
The last time the Brumbies were attacked in Australia was in 2016. Then the authorities of the state of New South Wales announced the forced destruction of 90 percent of the wild horse population. The livestock in the state was reduced according to the plan by several thousand individuals. The animals were not only shot, but also driven into traps, and then taken to other parts of the country.
Before that, the hunt for horses was announced in the 1960s. Then the Brumbies almost disappeared completely. Officials allowed to destroy these horses in unlimited quantities. Then the horses were shot from automatic weapons, electrocuted, poisoned and even shot from helicopters. No one thought that the population would recover after such destruction. But the Australian Brumbies Mustangs survived.
After the completion of the 2016 program, officials announced that they were going to keep the horse population within strict limits. To do this, it was planned to destroy 9,000 brumbies in 20 years. Obviously, the situation got out of control, once 5 years after the reduction of the livestock, new measures had to be resorted to.
Now the problem has already taken global proportions and they want to kill horses all over the country. Environmentalists considered that it is necessary to destroy 11 thousand brumbies so that their livestock does not exceed 3 thousand individuals. After the mass shooting, it is planned to kill another 1 thousand heads annually, so that the situation with the growth of herds does not repeat itself.
How did it happen that a continent where kangaroos have always been the largest animals suffers from horses? Brumbies are descendants of domestic horses, sled and cargo, brought to Australia in the mid-19th century. These are small horses — 140-150 cm at the withers. There is no uniformity among them, since wild horses are a mixture of different breeds of horses, including ponies.
The Brumbies have adapted perfectly to the harsh realities of Australia. They have learned to survive on scanty dry plant food and to do without water for a long time. The lifestyle influenced the appearance of these horses. They have become smaller at home, faster and more resilient. But unfortunately, brumbies have lost touch with humans and cannot be tamed.
In Australia, wild horses have long been part of the culture. They compose poems and sing songs about brumbies, they are written by artists and drawn by animators. Many Australians are not happy about the destruction of horses. There is even a "Save the Brumbies" society in the country. The chairman of the organization, Jen Carter speaks about these animals with warmth:
The animal advocate also says that relatively recently the attitude towards brumbies was different. Wild horses even took part in the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. Carter believes that other, less inhumane ways of regulation should be used, for example, sterilization. Alas, this method is considered economically impractical in high offices.
In general, in Australia they love to kill some animals for the sake of saving others. A couple of years ago, the continent was swept by a war with cats, in which at least 2 million tailed cats died. Rabbits, mice and... camels were also destroyed in this country. The latter came to Australia with the horses during the "gold rush".