Australia will begin culling thousands of wild horses this week, with helicopter snipers shooting the animals - sparking fury from activists

By OLIVIA ALLHUSEN, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 17:06, 9 June 2026 | Updated: 17:08, 9 June 2026 Australia will begin shooting thousands of wild horses from helicopters this week despite furious opposition from animal rights activists. Marksmen will target the animals, known as brumbies, in a major cull across Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, where officials say soaring numbers are causing extensive environmental damage. The operation is expected to begin as early as this week and forms part of a government plan to slash the wild horse population from an estimated 6,000 to 16,000 animals to just 3,000 by the middle of next year. The move has sparked outrage among campaigners, who have branded the aerial shooting programme 'completely barbaric' and launched petitions calling for it to be halted. Brumbies have roamed the rugged alpine landscape of Kosciuszko National Park for more than 200 years.  Descended from horses lost or released by European settlers, they have become a powerful symbol of Australia's pioneering history and feature prominently in folklore, literature and films, including Banjo Paterson's famous poem The Man From Snowy River. But environmental authorities insist there is strong scientific evidence that growing horse numbers are damaging fragile ecosystems and threatening native vegetation. Australia will begin shooting thousands of wild horses from helicopters this week despite furious opposition from animal rights activists A woman holds a placard during a protest over the proposed culling of wild Brumby horses, in Melbourne on June 2, 2020 A horse is pictured at a protest over the culling in national parks of the iconic Australian brumby horse, in Melbourne on June 8, 2022 Wildlife groups have urged lawmakers to stop the cull, arguing aerial shooting is 'inhumane, lacks transparency and ignores the cultural and historic significance of brumbies to many Australians'. A petition opposing the operation has attracted around 220,000 signatures on social media. Gabriela Black, founder of the Brumby Sanctuary Cooma, said the shooting was 'completely barbaric' and claimed official population estimates had been exaggerated. 'It is so inhumane to shoot these horses from the air, leaving them to die slowly and painfully,' she told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.  However, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service said horse numbers remain too high despite previous control measures. 'While there are early signs of groundcover and vegetation recovery in areas where horse numbers have been reduced, numbers remain high and the damage wild horses cause remains evident across many parts of the park,' a spokesman told the newspaper. Aerial shooting is due to continue until the end of the month, while other population-control measures, including trapping, rehoming and fertility control, are also being considered. The origin of the name 'brumby' remains disputed. One theory links it to Sergeant James Brumby, who is said to have left horses roaming free when he moved from New South Wales to Tasmania in the early 1800s.  Another suggests it comes from the Aboriginal Bidjara word 'booramby', meaning 'wild'. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.