Photos show incredible change at Aussie national parks: 'It is absolutely stark'

Native grasses are starting to regrow in Kosciuszko National Park following aerial culling of wild horses last year. Source: Reclaim Kosci

Conservationists have been celebrating the incredible transformation taking place in native Aussie bushland across the country after population control efforts have removed feral horses from national park land.

The environmental damage caused by feral horses and the subsequent culling methods used to reduce their population in certain areas have been a point of huge contention among battling groups of environmentalists and wildlife advocates in recent years. 

This week the Invasive Species Council (ISC) of Australia shared contrasting images of the same spot in the Barmah National Park, in the flood plains of the Murray River in northern Victoria, showing the difference it can make when grasslands are left undisturbed by the animal's heavy hooves. 

The group, which advocates for native wildlife against the wave of introduced and invasive species, described the scene as "an incredible ecological recovery". 

"The change is absolutely stark and shows why the sad reality is we need to urgently eradicate feral horses from national parks," it said while sharing before-and-after photos taken two years apart.

If not, "our native wildlife and landscapes will be trashed, trampled, overgrazed and polluted."

Before... Source: Facebook/Invasive Species Council

... After. Source: Facebook/Invasive Species Council

"Picture 1 is from 2023 and shows the fenced off feral horse exclusion zones before the feral horses were removed.

"Picture 2 is from 2025 and shows the same area after the feral horses were removed," the ISC said.

Similar scenes have been touted across the border with the Kosciuszko National Park in NSW said to be at a positive "turning point" following a recent horse cull. 

The famed alpine park appears to be on the mend after the killing of thousands of brumbies. Surveys carried out across the expansive landscape estimated the wild horse population has been slashed to between 1,579 and 5,639 in little more than a year after previous estimates had their numbers as high as 20,000.

It puts park operators on track to hit a mandated target of 3,000 feral horses over nearly one-third of the park by mid-2027.

Before-and-after images from Kosciuszko show reduced bare ground and increased vegetation coverage, along with less soil damage and trampling of stream banks.

Left, grassland before the reduction of feral brumby numbers in Kosciuszko National Park on March 27, 2024 and, right, the same grassland after the reduction of feral brumby numbers in March this year. Source: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst, who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into the aerial shooting of brumbies, said the data supported previous claims the population had been overstated.

"The last population estimate was between 17,000 and 21,700 horses, but now the park could have around 1,500 horses left after the removal of 8,954 horses," she told AAP.

"Aerial shooting is extremely cruel and unjustified and – given there is now a recognition that the number of horses in the park were never anywhere near as high as the government claimed – it should be taken off the table entirely."

The Australian Brumby Alliance also questioned the data and said it didn't correlate with what they had seen on the ground and called for an end to all trapping and shooting methods. 

NSW’s brumby population has plummeted to 1500. Picture: Ian Brown/NCA Newswire

But despite the critics, advocates say the native wildlife can now have some much needed reprieve. 

"Kosciuszko has many species that exist nowhere else on the planet and lots of critically endangered species, and one of their biggest threats is invasive species," the ISC's Indigenous Ambassador Richard Swain told Yahoo News earlier this year.

"Horses just strip the vegetation. They just tear the roofs off [animals’] houses, and they’re left to the exposure of birds of prey, feral cats and foxes."

Aerial brumby shooting resumed in NSW under the state Labor government in November 2023. About 6,000 have been clipped since to progress towards the population targets.

The wildlife service is not expected to shoot any more brumbies in the area and it will maintain the 3,000-horse population from mid-2027.

Last week, parliament debated repealing the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018, introduced by the Nationals to protect the "heritage value" of the brumby population and shape the current population targets.

Water quality, threatened species and sensitive areas will all be monitored to track the park's continued recovery.

with AAP

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This article originally appeared on Yahoo News Australia at https://au.news.yahoo.com/photos-show-incredible-change-at-aussie-national-parks-it-is-absolutely-stark-223223652.html

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