Roll over Banjo, they’re culling your Brumbies

By John Mikkelsen

I’m positive Banjo Patterson can be rolling in his grave if he learns that the attractive wild brumbies that featured in his immortal Man from Snowy River are at the moment being subjected to an intensive aerial cull.

“Cull” is a well mannered phrase for homicide in my e-book, with galloping herds attacked by shooters in helicopters. However that’s the popular choice to easily re-housing the wild horses, as instructed by numerous organisations as a extra humane choice.

To rub salt within the wound, we concurrently have quite a few bleeding hearts resisting requires shark culls following the latest horrific assault on a younger lady swimming between the flags at Sydney’s Coogee Seashore. This was simply the newest in a spate of assaults over the previous couple of years, most of which have proved deadly.

They should have specialists dealing with their repetitive PR (which to me smacks of BS) – “ Lovely creatures, we’re intruding on their territory and we should always know the dangers…”

The New South Wales Authorities simply resumed aerial capturing of brumbies to curb a reported inhabitants surge. They declare a latest survey estimated the wild horse inhabitants had spiked to between 6,476 and 16,411. (That simply leaves a margin for error of virtually 10,000). Officers say they’re legally required to scale back the whole variety of horses to three,000 by mid-2027 to “shield fragile alpine ecosystems.”

However any harm they could trigger can be infinitesimal in comparison with the continued problematic, completely irrational Snowy 2 mission whose value has blown out from the $2billion initially touted by former Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull (aka The Depressing Ghost) to the present ever-escalating estimate of $42 billion.

Moreover the dog-chasing-tail situation of pumping water uphill within the daytime to create much less energy when it runs downhill at night time, the related energy traces will contain clearing via the Kosciuszko Nationwide Park over huge distances, ensuing within the elimination of native vegetation throughout an estimated 118 hectares outdoors the park, alongside in depth felling easements via the park itself. Good one, Malcolm.

A number of distinguished animal welfare and equine advocacy organizations are actively combating the aerial brumby cull, arguing that non-lethal administration together with mustering, trapping, and rehoming needs to be prioritized.

These embody:

Australian Brumby Alliance (ABA); As a nationwide umbrella physique, the ABA coordinates with native rescue teams to advocate for humane administration. They emphasize that wild horses are simple targets for non-lethal seize and preserve that aerial capturing can not assure a swift, pain-free dying.

Save the Brumbies: This charity operates devoted sanctuaries and runs a extremely structured adoption program. They’ve efficiently gentled and rehomed greater than 400 brumbies, utilizing their observe document to show {that a} dependable, non-lethal discount program is completely possible if given enough authorities backing.

The Brumby Mission: Working year-round adoption streams, The Brumby Mission takes unhandled horses out of threatened environments and matches them with skilled house owners who possess the specialised services required to cultivate wild horses.

Animal Liberation & Animal Justice Celebration: Engaged on each authorized and activist fronts, they foyer the federal government to halt culls and marketing campaign for official funding to assemble rehoming infrastructure nearer to the Australian Alps.

These all sound cheap to me, and this poignant tune has simply introduced tears to my cynical previous eyes, Inform The Wind How Brumbies Fall however on the danger of upsetting different environmental teams, let’s discover the contrasting therapy of sharks alongside our stunning shoreline.

To my data the brumbies haven’t killed and eaten anyone, however Australia has recorded a complete of 30 shark assaults throughout 2025 to June 2026, leading to 9 fatalities, as this desk reveals:

Based on the continued database registry at Monitoring Sharks, 2026 has seen a closely publicised spike in aggressive exercise, particularly round main metropolis harbors and seashores.

January 2026 noticed a unprecedented sample of 4 assaults inside 48 hours, together with a deadly assault on a 12-year-old boy inside Sydney Harbour. In the meantime, trawler and industrial fishermen throughout Australia together with my very own Sunshine Coast territory are reporting an “out-of-control” increase in shark populations, offering firsthand observations that line up with former Prime Minister and new Liberal Celebration president Tony Abbott’s push to reopen shark fisheries. Abbott said, “It’s so fallacious that we don’t put individuals earlier than sharks,” arguing that state governments can not prioritize conservation forward of public security.

The fishermen say that shark depredation—the place sharks steal hooked or netted fish earlier than they are often reeled in—has reached unprecedented ranges.

They’re dropping costly gear day by day to aggressive sharks trailing their vessels. Presenters from The Fishing Present on 7Mate report a dramatic enhance in reeling up “half-sharks”—smaller sharks which can be being aggressively eaten by a lot bigger sharks, a behaviour hardly ever seen a decade in the past. However sharks are protected throughout all Australian Commonwealth waters (extending from three nautical miles to 200 nautical miles offshore) and inside state-managed marine parks, sanctuaries, and particular refuge areas.

Go determine, as the children say. And whereas we’re at it, why not add equally lethal cone shells, blue-ringed octopus, field jellies and Irikundji to the protected record, together with the totally protected crocodiles that are increasing their conventional northern territorial waters with a number of sightings in South East Queensland’s Mary River and the Fraser Coast.

On dry land, why not add probably lethal funnelweb and crimson again spiders to the totally protected snake inhabitants reportedly accountable for a mean of round 3,000 bites and several other human fatalities every year, in addition to quite a few assaults on canines and different pets. These can go away frightened house owners with hundreds of {dollars} in vet payments if the poor animals handle to outlive.

And don’t point out dingoes – we will cull them on the drop of a hat if one assaults or approaches a human aggressively on Ok’Gari (previously Fraser Island) however aren’t the vacationers encroaching on their territory similar to these “stunning” man/lady eaters out within the surf.

Relating to sharks as normal I’ve some pores and skin within the sport, having spearfished in my youth alongside a lot of the East Coast from northern Reef waters to Port Phillip Bay within the south, with many finned, toothy encounters alongside the way in which. Fortunately these didn’t embody the now quite a few white pointers which NSW Premier Chris Minns gained’t ponder culling, or I won’t be right here to inform the tail.

A few of these are recounted in my memoir ramblings linked on the foot of this contribution, however concerning the brumbies, I’ll go away the ultimate phrases to the immortal Banjo after the fabled “Colt from Previous Remorse” ran off to affix the wild brumbies and his sensible poem describing the chase turned a part of the colorful material of our nation. It additionally impressed an iconic film in 1982: The Man from Snowy River by A B Banjo Paterson – Well-known poems, well-known poets. – All Poetry

“…However the man from Snowy River let the horse have his head, And he swung his stockwhip spherical and gave a cheer, And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its mattress, Whereas the others stood and watched in very worry. He despatched the flint-stones flying, however the pony stored his ft, He cleared the fallen timbers in his stride, And the person from Snowy River by no means shifted in his seat, It was grand to see that mountain horseman experience….

“…And down by Kosciusko, the place the pine-clad ridges elevate Their torn and rugged battlements on excessive, The place the air is obvious as crystal, and the white stars pretty blaze At midnight within the chilly and frosty sky, And the place across the Overflow the reed -beds sweep and sway To the breezes, and the rolling plains are vast, The person from Snowy River is a family phrase at this time, And the stockmen inform the story of his experience.”

John Mikkelsen is a former editor of three Queensland regional newspapers, columnist, freelance author and writer of the Amazon Books Memoir, Don’t Name Me Nev. (https://www.amazon.com.au/Dont-Name-Nev-John-Mikkelsen/dp/B09S244GP1/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?