But that is the preferred option to simply re-housing the wild horses, as suggested by various organisations as a more humane option.

To rub salt in the wound, we simultaneously have numerous bleeding hearts resisting calls for shark culls following the recent horrific attack on a young woman swimming between the flags at Sydney’s Coogee Beach.

ATTACKS

This was just the latest in a spate of attacks over the past couple of years, most of which have proved fatal.

They must have experts handling their repetitive PR (which to me smacks of BS): “Beautiful creatures. We are intruding on their territory. We should know the risks…”

The NSW Government just resumed aerial shooting of brumbies to curb a reported population surge.

They claim a recent survey estimated the wild horse population had spiked to between 6476 and 16,411. (That leaves a margin for error of 10,000!)

Officials say they are legally required to reduce the total number of horses to 3000 by mid-2027 to “protect fragile alpine ecosystems”.

But any damage they might cause would be infinitesimal compared to the ongoing problematic, totally irrational Snowy II project whose cost has blown out from the $2b originally touted by former Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull (aka The Miserable Ghost) to the current ever-escalating estimate of $42b.

Besides the dog-chasing-tail scenario of pumping water uphill in the daytime to create less power when it runs downhill at night, the associated power lines will involve clearing through the Kosciuszko National Park over vast distances, resulting in the removal of native vegetation across an estimated 118 hectares outside the park, alongside extensive felling easements through the park itself. Good one, Malcolm.

Several prominent animal welfare and equine advocacy organisations are actively fighting the aerial brumby cull, arguing that non-lethal management including mustering, trapping and rehoming should be prioritised.

These include:

• Australian Brumby Alliance (ABA): As a national umbrella body, the ABA coordinates with local rescue groups to advocate for humane management. They emphasise that wild horses are easy targets for non-lethal capture and maintain that aerial shooting cannot guarantee a swift, pain-free death.
• Save the Brumbies: This charity operates dedicated sanctuaries and runs a highly structured adoption program. They have successfully gentled and rehomed more than 400 brumbies, using their track record to demonstrate that a reliable, non-lethal reduction program is entirely feasible if given sufficient government backing.
• The Brumby Project: Operating year-round adoption streams, The Brumby Project takes unhandled horses out of threatened environments and matches them with experienced owners who possess the specialised facilities required to domesticate wild horses.
• Animal Liberation & Animal Justice Party: Working on both legal and activist fronts, they lobby the government to halt culls and campaign for official funding to construct rehoming infrastructure closer to the Australian Alps.

These all sound reasonable to me, and this poignant song has just brought tears to my cynical old eyes, Tell The Wind How Brumbies Fall.

At the risk of upsetting other environmental groups, let’s explore the contrasting treatment of sharks along our beautiful coastline.

To my knowledge the brumbies haven’t killed nor eaten anybody.

On the flip side, Australia has recorded a total of 30 shark attacks across 2025 to June 2026, resulting in nine fatalities.

According to the ongoing database registry at Tracking Sharks, 2026 has seen a heavily publicised spike in aggressive activity, especially around major city harbours and beaches.

January 2026 saw an extraordinary pattern of four attacks within 48 hours, including a fatal attack on a 12-year-old boy inside Sydney Harbour.

Meanwhile, trawler and commercial fishermen across Australia including my own Sunshine Coast territory are reporting an “out-of-control” boom in shark populations, providing firsthand observations that line up with former Prime Minister and new Liberal Party President Tony Abbott’s push to reopen shark fisheries.

Abbott stated: “It’s so wrong that we don’t put people before sharks,” arguing that State governments cannot prioritise conservation ahead of public safety.

DEPREDATION

The fishermen say that shark depredation – where sharks steal hooked or netted fish before they can be reeled in – has reached unprecedented levels.

They are losing expensive gear daily to aggressive sharks trailing their vessels.

Presenters from The Fishing Show on 7Mate report a dramatic increase in reeling up “half-sharks” – smaller sharks that are being aggressively eaten by much larger sharks, a behaviour rarely seen a decade ago.

But sharks are protected across all Australian Commonwealth waters (extending from three nautical miles to 200 nautical miles offshore) and inside State-managed marine parks, sanctuaries and specific refuge areas.

Go figure, as the kids say.

And while we are at it, why not add equally deadly cone shells, blue-ringed octopus, box jellies and Irikundji to the protected list, along with the fully protected crocodiles which are expanding their traditional northern territorial waters with multiple sightings in South East Queensland’s Mary River and the Fraser Coast.

On dry land, why not add potentially deadly funnelweb and red back spiders to the fully protected snake population reportedly responsible for an average of around 3000 bites and several human fatalities each year, as well as numerous attacks on dogs and other pets.