Bev McArthur MP, Liberal Member for Western Victoria Region, Media Release, 24 August 2022
The current shooting, hacking up and burying of Brumby carcasses under piles of branches in the Bogong High Plains, the Victorian Alpine National Park and the Barmah National Park should be stopped immediately.
A motion in the Victorian Parliament passed last week, voting in favour of cancelling current, and planned, aerial and ground shooting of Brumbies.
The motion to end the brumby cull of thousands of horses was moved by the Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur.
“This is the result that we have been fighting hard to achieve for years now,” Mrs McArthur said.
“The barbarism involved in Labor’s plan and current annihilation is abhorrent.
“The Government, through their agency, Parks Victoria has failed to engage properly in re-homing and other sensible methods of dealing with the issue. Labor’s belligerence is all to do with ideology, rather than the environment,” she said.
The motion drew attention to the Government’s failure to adhere to its own management plan which included publishing updated population counts of the wild horses.
It also failed to undertake rehoming and trapping of the horses.
“This is a story about the genuine care and protection of animals, over animal cruelty. Barbaric is the only word to describe the Minister’s plans for these horses.
“It is a story about genuinely caring for Australia’s heritage, its environment and the proper management of both in the future.
“That the RSPCA has been all but silent on the brumby issue is astounding. As the lead group for the protection of animals, it’s apparent ambivalence and inattention to the brumby disgrace is baffling. It has failed to uphold best practice welfare standards.
“As such, it has given the green light to the barbaric shootings that have happened already.
“Proper protocols are not being adhered to. PetSmart standard operating procedures demand proper slaughter procedures – these are being ignored.
“Images of mutilated horses show shots to the gut and neck, with no speedy follow-up of a head shot to render a speedy death to minimise pain. They are also not meant to be shooting mares in foal.
“Mares are aborting foals, being shot in the stomach, and the carnage that is being left is just fodder for wild dogs, pigs, cats and foxes.
“The carnage and animal cruelty that is taking place in our public spaces – the Barmah and High Country forests – is just obscene.”
The motion clearly indicates to the Minister for the Environment, Lily D’Ambrosio, that the community has had enough.
“This Government, under the baton of this Minister, has failed to adhere to its own plans.
“In doing this, it has failed any pretence of being true to the animal welfare cause.
“This motion is a win for the northern communities who have fought for better – and finally – achieved it.
“Protecting the environment, animal welfare and our national heritage can be realised in respectful, considered policies.”
The motion now requires the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change to:
- Publicly provide the current brumby numbers in the Barmah and Alpine National Parks,
- Reverse the suspension of trapping and rehoming operations,
- Provide approval to volunteer brumby rehoming organisations and
- Cancel current or planned brumby shooting operations, especially those leaving carcases to decompose on public land.
Mrs McArthur also used an Adjournment speech to call on the Minister to act on the motion as passed by the Parliament and to not ignore this important part of the democratic process of Parliament.
Motion Vote
Adjournment
Related story: Hunted down with dogs and drones: Bev McArthur.
