Descendant's of Australia's War Horses Deserve Protection

Please support the Letter stop our Heritage Brumbies from being shot and for the introduction of humane non lethal management

Brumby Action Group Incorporated a not for profit incorporated association

Please support the Letter stop our Heritage Brumbies from being shot and for the introduction of humane non lethal management

Brumby Action Group Incorporated a not for profit incorporated association

Email your Federal Members of Parliament

The institutionalised prejudice against brumbies, fueled by rhetoric, inconclusive research produced by unelected ideological minorities, and now numbers that are deceitfully flawed and exaggerated must be loudly opposed.

Recent Independant research by Biostatistician Claire Galea has shown why the population claims by the Australian Alpine National Park are flawed. Deviance from the protocols of St Andrews has led to numbers being manipulated upwards.

There are now institutionalized barriers blocking policy reform on Brumby protection which has become extreme and volatile, becoming a destructive force in Australian communities and even in the political arena. False claims of threats by parks managers are used to distract from the gross cruelty imposed on brumbies and the misleading population numbers.

Pro Brumby constituents do not wish to witness a Brumby slaughter, they demand protection and non lethal management for Brumbies. An independent count of brumbies is crucial to address the decades of flawed reporting.

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Subject:

There is a very real, unjustified and continuing persecution of Australia's wild living horse, the  brumby, in a bid to remove any European cultural presence from the Australian Alpine National Park, by those who believe Brumbies represent Australian colonization.

It is irrational to suggest Brumbies are responsible for degradation of the Alpine Park or harm threatened and endangered species when there is no conclusive evidence to support that. Further, a recent biostatistical report has shown numbers claimed are flawed. In addition, Brumbies have lived symbiotically with other wildlife,  in the Australian Alpine National Park for upward of two centuries.

The presence of wild horses in the National Park cannot diminish our respect for  First Nations People, some of whom are ardent supporters of Brumbies.

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.

An independant report dated 24 May 2023 prepared by Biostatistician Claire Galea, who has over 25 years experience as a biostatistician, has revealed the reports of Stuart Cairns for the Australian Alpine Liaison Committee, contain  "concerning flaws in methodology and statistical modelling of the population estimates...." In other words, numbers are flawed.

Ms Galea further states, in her report,  "It is impossible to have any confidence in the population estimates" prepared by Stuart Cairns.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/281286786262689/permalink/926287008429327

The Heritage and iconic value of the Australian Brumby has been recognized internationally with many statues and commemorations erected in their honor. Australian horses 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. Brumbies were trapped in the high plains, trained and used as army remounts.

The Bogong and Alpine Park Brumbies hold unique Heritage value to the Commonwealth of Australia and all Australians, as  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 feature in literature, films and prose. We all know the story of the Man from Snowy River and The Silver Brumby, making Brumbies an iconic symbol of Australian freedom.

Brumbies have lived symbiotically with native wildlife in the Australian Alpine National Park for about 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).” “Exclosure 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 incorrect, and have produced numbers that are neither scientifically or biologically possible. There are not 18,000 Brumbies in the Alpine National Park. False numbers creates false policy and incites false claims of damage.   During the inquiry into Kangaroos in N.S.W. evidence was led that numbers devised using distance modelling are neither "scientific or biologically possible" and now Biostatistician Claire Galea has shown in her report how the numbers have been deceitfully manipulated by varying the method recommended by St Andrews University, the creator of the distance modelling software. The Cairns population reports are flawed.

A population count using a method acceptable to all stakeholders, to produce real numbers must be undertaken immediately along with independent research into the benefits of Brumbies and an immediate halt to all aerial and ground shooting must be made.

Excessively 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.

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  trampling riverbanks which are caused by natural slumping, and  the death of Galaxias native fish, which are consumed by introduced trout. The list is exhaustive.

We ask the House  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/management plans to protect and manage any environmental concerns within the States and Territories, while providing an overarching umbrella of protection for Australia’s Heritage Brumbies alongside protection for the environment.

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

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