In response to the October 2000 culling of feral horses in the Guy Fawkes River National Park the Minister for the Environment appointed Associate Professor Tony English from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney to develop a plan of management to reduce the number of feral horses remaining in the park without using aerial culling.

To assist Dr. English the NPWS is hosting a workshop on Saturday 10th February 2001 at Dorrigo with key individuals and groups to discuss issues and options which need to be considered in the development of a plan of management. (Proposed program atached for your information).

It is important to note that the workshop is not a forum to review the October 2000 aerial culling of horses in the park, rather it is a first step in identifying issues and possible ways forward in feral horse management in the Guy Fawkes River National Park.

On the basis of your experience and expertise you are invited to attend and contribute to the plan of management development.

Please register your interest and availability for attending the workshop by contacting the NPWS Dorrigo Office on 66572309 by Wednesday 7th February 2001.

If you wish to seek further information please contact Dr. English on 93511675 or myself on 66411500. We look forward to your involvement on the day.

Yours faithfully

Alan Jeffrey
Regional Manager, North Coast

There were over 20 of us who were invited, including a horse protection group, a member of the Bi-centennial (National) horse trail, the local member for the NSW government and adjacent land owners etc.

One invitee threatened to walk out if the meeting was only about removing the remaining brumbies. Much of the discussion was then centred around whether to leave or remove the remaining brumbies. Over half (maybe 2/3) of invitees wanted to see the remaining brumbies left there.

During the meeting I asked Dr. English to give in 2 or 3 minutes his definition of humane killing. He side stepped my question by saying that different people have different views. I tried a different approach. At morning tea break I asked him about the detailed Code of Practice for the capture and transport of feral horses that he has been asked to develop. (It concerns me that he was the one asked to develop this Code) I asked him if he will be defining 'humane killing' in this Code and whether humane killing meant that a horse had to die say within 10 seconds or die within 3 hours. Angrily he said, "You and I both know that it should be instantaneous or as quickly as possible". Maybe you could ask him his definition of humane killing which he will be using in the Code of Practice, and then ask him to explain how he could say that the brumbies in the photos died humanely.

I really don't see how he can say that the GFRNP brumby cull was humane. Dr. English has to report to Minister Bob Debus at some time on his findings from the meeting/workshop, and put forward a recommendation on the future of the remaining brumbies. Also quite a number of us objected at the meeeting to the term "feral horse". We preferred "brumby" or "wild horse".

It might be good if you emailed Dr. English asking him to honour the general concensus of the meeting and not flavour it with his secret agenda. About a week after the meeting/workshop I received in the mail a form from NPWS entitled "Horse Management Plan Development Workshop Evaluation Form" stating that comments about the workshop are very valuable to NPWS in planning future workshops and consultation. The last question asked whether I would like to continue to be involved in the development of the horse management plan. The "management" plan was not clarified. I made comment on the use of this word.

The initial court case hearing between RSPCA and NSW NPWS went ahead in in February. I heard that the barrister for NSW NPWS argued that NPWS could do what they liked as it was on National Parks land, and that the judge rejected this and has adjourned the court case because of this. I can't verify this about the barrister though. The next sitting is in May.

Before the Guy Fawkes Valley became a national park in 1972, it was used for grazing cattle. There are still some remains of old yards and associated mustering huts, although vey run down or almost unrecognisable. A new mustering hut (mustering huts are generally very basic buildings consisting of a roof, a few walls, a fire place and a couple of beds and a table and chairs, and are not usually suitable for women) was built at Sawpit Creek a few years ago to provide shelter for adjacent land owners in the removal of their cattle that stray into the park from time to time. There was one particular hut and asociated holding yard that was destroyed years ago, after the valley became a park. It was not discovered until many years later that it was a park's staff member who was the one who cut the fencing and burnt the hut. It is not known whether it was his initiative or an order from NPWS. I mentioned this because I have heard that NPWS staff were seen lighting fires in the park prior to the October cull. I can't verify this though, but will be chasing it up. The man who apparently saw this was at the NPWS meeting/workshop in Dorrigo. Had I known then I would have asked him.

Some adjoining neighbours are concerned about future fires in the park now that many of the brumbies are gone, and cattle are not allowed in the park. There will not be enough animals to keep the grass down. Maybe you could ask Ministers Bob Debus and Richard Amery how they plan to monitor fire risk if no brumbies are left in the park, and ask that the remaining brumbies be allowed to remain. A similar situation occurred in Queensland (Qld) about 25 years ago at Mount Moffat. The Qld government bought Mt. Moffat Station (Station means large property) which was 220,000 acres of cattle grazing property. It was to become a national park. Many of the brumbies there were shot, and the cattle were removed.

The locals and adjoining neighbours protested because of the threat of fires resulting from no stock to keep the grass down. There were significant historical buildings and yards there. A fire came and wiped out some of this. There was such an outcry that the Qld National Parks Department changed their policy and allowed a grazing lease. I was told by the ranger while out there about 7 or 8 years ago that there were still about 80 brumbies left, and that he was going to leave them alone.

After you read the English Report you will see that it is basically, as some people put it, a cover-up for the NSW NPWS. After all, Dr. English and the NPWS are both paid by the NSW government, and the NSW government shields itself and NPWS from criticism by quoting from the English Report. This is what I call a typical modern-day Three Musketeer set up; "One for all and all for one."

The Lockyer State Forest north of Gatton and some adjoining private land which is fairly untouched has brumbies. I have done a lot of my studies there. There are other blocks of land near there with a few brumbies also. One large block about 6 miles further north west has about 30 semi-wild horses.

The Queensland government department 'Department of Natural Resources' wants to remove the brumbies from the Lockyer State Forest. I have writtten to them twice so far asking of their intentions, but they havn't answered me yet. I think some of the government departments in Australia must be celebrating the "year of hate the brumby" now that the olympic games are over.

While I was at Dorrigo in February I was shown a newspaper article about 1700 bats (flying foxes) that died at the hands of a NSW NPWS experiment that went awefully wrong. From memory the article said that the bats were locked in their cave for experimental reasons and died from stress. I havn't followed this up. If you want a copy of this article I can arrange to get it, scan it and email it to you. It may have been a genuine experiment gone wrong, the staff involved may be genuine people. I just thought that I would mention this. Maybe you could mention to the two ministers and NSW NPWS that you had heard about this experiment.

A few years ago a high voltage power line route was revealed by the major electricity generating authority of Queensland to join up Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria ( the eastern states of Australia ); the route was call "Eastlink". There was a real strong community effort to try and stop this. The government opposition party campaigned to have this "scrapped" if they were elected at the next election. They were elected at the next ellection and many people were happy for a while. Then it was revealed at a later date that a high voltage power line would go ahead again, but this time it was on a route that was located further west before it swung east and back to a similar termination point. This route was called "Westlink". So "Eastlink" was never really "scrapped", it just received a new name and a different route. This is a prime example of how ruling government parties can change, but existing government departments remain and propogate their long term agenda.

This is one reason why I will always be cautious of NSW NPWS, even though Minister Bob Debus has banned aerial culling in NSW. I am still cautious of Minister Bob Debus when he said aerial culling of horses is permanently banned in all NSW national parks. There are a number of brumbies in NSW state forests, I never heard that he said aerial shooting was banned in state forests. I think they still plan to shoot wild pigs and goats etc. from the air. Something else for me to chase up.

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