Wildlife

Australia to Cull Thousands of Wild Horses

Wildlife officials plan to kill or rehome more than 10,000 wild horses in Australia as part of a new plan to limit the species’ numbers. But scientists have criticized the proposal for not going far enough.

There are more than 25,000 wild, or feral, horses in Australia, based on a 2019 aerial survey, according to Australian Alps National Parks. A majority of these horses, also known locally as brumbies, live in Australia’s alpine region, located at the intersection of three states: New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.

Australia’s alpine environment covers just 1% of the continent and has many endemic and threatened species that are found nowhere else, David Watson, an ecologist at Charles Sturt University in Australia, told Nature. The horses, which are an invasive species in Australia, rapidly reproduce and cause widespread ecosystem damage in that region.

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