Descendant's of Australia's War Horses Deserve Protection

Please support the Letter to the House of Representatives for the introduction of a Bill for Legislation to recognise the Heritage value of Brumbies and to protect that value with Commonweatlh Legislation.

Brumby Action Group Incorporated a not for profit incorporated association

Please support the Letter to the House of Representatives for the introduction of a Bill for Legislation to recognise the Heritage value of Brumbies and to protect that value with Commonweatlh Legislation.

Brumby Action Group Incorporated a not for profit incorporated association

Email your Federal Members of Parliament

The institutionalised prejudice against brumbies, fueled by rhetoric, and inconclusive research produced by unelected ideological minorities, needs Federal Intervention. There are now cultural and institutional barriers blocking policy reform on Brumby protection which has become extreme and volatile, it has become a destructive force in Australian communities and even in the political arena.

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Subject:

There is a very real, unjustified and continuing persecution of Australian Brumbies in a bid to remove any European cultural presence from the Alpine and other National Parks in Australia, by those who mistakenly believe that Brumbies represent Australian colonization. While horses were transported to Australia with tall ships, and later horses released into the wild to become today's Brumbies, it is irrational to suggest Brumbies are responsible for degradation of the Alpine Park or diminishes our respect for the First Nations People.

The unjustified discourse is routinely lent institutional endorsement by sections of state government bureaucracies, to the point it has become an historical institutionalized prejudice  fueled by inconclusive research produced by unelected ideological environmental and political minorities.

The Heritage and iconic value of the Australian Brumby has been recognized internationally with many statues and commemorations erected in their honor. Australian Brumbies supported soldiers in the Boer War and World War 1.

Australia's Light Horsemen are legendary, a part of our Commonwealth War Effort, and 'Bill the Bastard' was one of the bravest steeds. Brumbies living in the Bogong High Plains have been tested and recognized as having Waler DNA, the same as their forebear the brave War horses who supported our soldiers at Beersheba.

The Bogong and Alpine Park Brumbies hold unique Heritage value to the Commonwealth of Australia and all Australians, and their contribution as War Horses and are bloodline descendants of Australian War Horses.

Brumbies hold a unique, significant and meaningful place in Australian cultural and social history, being descendants of horses that arrived in tall ships, carted wood, pulled ploughs and carried children to school and church. Brumbies perform an important role in tourism, there are even coins minted and stamps created in honor of our Australian Brumbies. Brumbies are internationally recognized and have become an Australian Icon.

Brumbies have lived symbiotically with native wildlife in the Alpine Park for over two hundred years, they contribute to biodiversity and where they graze, fuel loads for wildfires are reduced. “While studies on herbivory are widespread, there is less information specifically on the effects of horses. This is because controlled experimental studies are rare, and most rely on a correlational approach and are often complicated by the presence of other herbivores (Beever & Brussard 2000).” “Ex closure plots that exclude all grazing herbivores are likely to exaggerate the impacts of horses (Linklater et al. 2002).” (Pestsmart).

Very recently, Brumbies have been accused of harming the Corrobboree frog into extinction which is false rhetoric, and yet:    
 "The primary cause of decline of the Southern Corroboree Frog is chytridiomycosis, the disease associated with amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). This fungus has caused the disappearance of many species around the globe, especially in Central America and eastern Australia"  (Co-authored with The Conversation by David Hunter, threatened species officer for the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage)

Another native species, the pygmy possum being bandied around:

"The Mountain Pygmy-possum is threatened in NSW by the loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat. Two of the four main sub-populations are located within ski resort areas. Past management practices by the resorts have led to direct loss of habitat and alteration of vegetation. Winter activities such as snow grooming may directly affect Mountain Pygmy-possums by compacting the sub-nivean space and disturbing pygmy-possums during hibernation. Fragmentation of habitat by roads and resort buildings affects recruitment to the population, particularly by inhibiting the dispersal of male and juvenile individuals between habitat patches." (Source:NSW Department Planning and Environment)

I urge you,before you decide  our Heritage Brumbies "Do Not Belong", conduct your own further research about what is causing degradation in the Great Alpine Park, please, do not be seduced by the rhetoric of unelected extremist anti colonization groups.

Please consider the Youtube Channel My Big Backyard Productions documenting decades of videos taken  in the Victorian Alpine Park,and  the pristine nature of the areas in the headwaters or Bogong High Plains. What is of considerable concern of course, is the environmental pollution being created by both Parks Victoria and National Parks and Wildlife Services as they shoot Brumbies in the Victorian Alpine Park and never remove the carcass, some of which are left in headwaters in the Bogong High Plains, Parks Victoria having shot at least 20 Bogong Brumbies (bloodline descendants of our War Horses in August 2022)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQkhlsz58wn5TqzacDNlbAA/videos?app=desktop&fbclid=IwAR13YRxb6yZZO5LGW5VsjDMyzUXODrlzvp0cUPRbqBOeH5DVeshbMllO1D4

Population surveys undertaken using distance computer modelling has been proven to be ineffectual, producing numbers that are neither scientifically or biologically possible. There are not 18,000 Brumbies in the Alpine National Park. False numbers creates false policy. During the inquiry into Kangaroos in N.S.W. evidence was led that numbers devised using distance modelling are neither "scientific or biologically possible."

A population count using a method acceptable to all parties, including stakeholders, to produce real numbers must be undertaken immediately along with independent research into the benefits of Brumbies.

Excessive cruelty and aggravated cruelty toward Brumbies by state managers who shoot Brumbies with single non-lethal shots, leaving them to die long drawn-out deaths has been documented in both New South Wales and Victoria for many decades. Brumbies from both States have been dispatched to knackeries for decades and is recognized as an horrific death and is socially unacceptable. Recently a mob in Victoria was found with non-lethal shots, left to die long drawn out barbarically cruel deaths.

State managers do not comply with standard operating procedures when engaging in "culling" Brumbies whether it is by ground or air. It is usual, whether shooting with non-lethal shots, trapping in foaling season, shooting lactating mares with foals, and is causing high level alarm and distress to the public and stakeholders.

There are now cultural and institutional barriers blocking policy reform on Brumby protection in the states, which has become extreme and volatile, and we believe Brumbies deserve the protection sought, because they do belong for all of the reasons stated in this letter.

It is time to set aside the anti-Brumby rhetoric, the ideologically driven, anti-European culture that is causing  a rift in Australian communities,  as generations of Australians living in the high country, city dwellers, and  newcomers, struggle to accept the potential loss of their identity with the destruction of Brumbies, lobbied for  with anti-brumby rhetoric  that has now permeated the ranks of decision makers, with false allegations of ‘damage’ to native wildlife that does not and has not in fact taken place. Brumbies are blamed for deer wallows and for deer trampling riverbanks, the death of Galaxias native fish, which are consumed by introduced trout. The list is exhaustive.

We ask the House of Representatives to acknowledge the Heritage value of Brumbies in the Commonwealth of Australia, and to protect that value with the introduction of a Commonwealth Bill for Legislation, the Australian Wild Horse/Brumby Bill, such Bill should seek to sit side by side and support State and Territory non-lethal Legislations to protect and manage any environmental concerns within the States and Territories, while providing an overarching umbrella of protection for Australia’s Heritage Brumbies.

I ask you to speak for me in Parliament and to support the protection of Brumbies within Australia.

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