THE MYTH OF INSTANT DEATH

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Imagine a heart-pounding chase from the air, the ground a blur beneath you. Now imagine being shot –  multiple times – while running for your life. The idea of a clean, instantaneous kill from a helicopter is a fallacy. Many Brumbies are suffering horrific injuries, some dying slowly from internal bleeding or drowning in their own blood as their lungs fill with fluid.

There are proven, non-lethal methods for managing wild horse populations. These include trapping and rehoming, fertility control, and creating sanctuaries. These options are far more humane and sustainable than the current, barbaric cull.

From the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions: (Feral horses)

"Shooting from a moving platform can significantly detract from the shooter’s accuracy therefore helicopter shooting operations do not always result in a clean kill for all animals. Follow-up procedures are essential to ensure that all wounded animals are killed.

With aerial shooting of horses, ‘double-tap’ chest shots (2 quick shots) are most frequently made, as the heart and lungs are the largest vital area and an accurate shot is more achievable particularly within the range of unusual angles encountered when shooting from above.

Although death from a chest shot may be more certain, compared to an accurate head shot, a shot to the chest does not render the animal instantaneously insensible and time to death is slower."

Did you get that?

A shot to the chest - is most frequently used - and does NOT result in instant death.

How in the world could anyone call dying a slow death humane?

Normally, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are laid out and made available for the public before a culling of wild horses occurs.

That was not our understanding of what happened when it came to the aerial culling that occured on December 18, 2023.

It is our understanding that the SOP was not made public until it was tabled by Minister Penny Sharpe during the hearing (video recording of proceedings is here), one month after the aerial cull.  Again, NOT before the aerial shooting.

Meaning that they needed to be shot in the heart which as you can see from the included graphics – is literally impossible to do from above, from a helicopter especially as horses are panicking and running for their lives.  (We refer you back to the 4 minute video below.)

Perhaps even worse Minister Penny Sharpe and Atticus Fleming acknowledged the aerial cull was done during foaling season.

They then tried to claim that they had to shoot foals that were left alone because mares abandoned their foals.

That may have been the case because horses are flight animals and when terrified  they will run for their lives. With as many as 3 helicopters hunting them down,  can you imagine the terror they experienced?

It is also likely that foals were found alone because their mothers had been shot.  And again, foals were then shot.

Who would have the heart to shoot a HEALTHY foal? Is there anything humane about the above scenario?

Minister Penny Sharpe said that an annual survey was conducted in October and according to the survey there were between just under 13,000 and 22,000 wild horses in the park.

Claire Galea, Independent Biostatistician explained how the cull is based on numbers that are inaccurate. (See the 2:47 mark in the full video here.)

Again the designer (University of St Andrews) of the software used to come up with the extreme numbers of wild horses refused to peer review Stuart Cairns’ numbers.

In other words the cruel and inhumane cull was based on flawed counts of wild horses in the KNP.

While spokespeople for Australia's National Parks and politicians like Labour Minister Penny Sharpe have defended aerial shooting of Brumbies as humane, we urge you to consider recent testimony presented during a NSW Animal Welfare Committee public hearing/investigation.

In the video above, Ms. Ward cites a specific instance where horses were pursued by 3 helicopters and shot for a total of 9 minutes.

Additionally, she states that most of the shots didn't immediately render the horses insensible - deaths were slow, required multiple shots and were certainly NOT humane.

Join us in calling on the government of New South Wales, Australia to stop shooting down Brumbies from helicopters and to instead use humane, non-lethal, alternatives.  

Your email or phone call does not have to be fancy - you simply have to say that you oppose the slaughtering of Brumbies.  

When emailing please be sure to include your full name, address and phone number.  

March 20, 2024: The NSW government slaughtered 500 wild horses in the KNP in the last 2 weeks with an acceleration of slaughtering starting April 4th -- and that's not including 100's slaughtered earlier -  but expert reports suggest the Government's population estimates are wildly inaccurate.

Rocky Harvey is on a mission to stop this unnecessary slaughter. He's raising funds for an independent population survey. This data is critical to challenging the ongoing  slaughter and saving these magnificent horses.