End Brumby Shooting!

Wild brumbies live in family bands, watching out for each other in Victoria's high country – not so different from the horses many of us keep as companions.

Right now, that doesn't protect them. Under the current brumby control program, they're shot from helicopters, or shot and poisoned on the ground.

Death isn't always quick. A horse that's wounded rather than killed outright can be left to suffer — running, injured, sometimes for hours, before it dies.

We don't think protecting Victoria's wild places should come at this cost. Government has a responsibility to care for our environment without resorting to violence.

Take Action to End Brumby Shooting

1,436

Brumbies removed from Alpine National Park, Jan 2020 – Oct 2024

711

Brumbies removed from Barmah National Park over the same period

~5,000

Brumbies still in the Eastern Alps, facing the same fate

Why the Program Needs to Change

✗	Killing dominates over care. Of the brumbies removed from Alpine and Barmah National Parks since 2020, the large majority were shot rather than trapped and rehomed.
✗	Aerial shooting is only a decision away. Policy keeps the door open to shooting horses from helicopters "in exceptional circumstances" – a method that allows no check on an animal's suffering before, during or after it's shot.
✗	Rehoming isn't a guarantee. In Barmah National Park, dozens of trapped horses have been rejected by rehoming organisations and released straight back into the park they'd just been removed from.
✗	No population is safe long-term. Up to 5,000 brumbies in the Eastern Alps face an open-ended target of "reduction" – not protection – meaning the killing could continue there indefinitely.

Source data: Parks Victoria, Feral Horse FAQs.