RUNNING THROUGH THE DANDELIONS. THE CONTROVERSY OF MANAGEMENT AND TRAPPING OF WILD HORSES

 

WILD BRUMBIES & COCKATOO IN KNP
Photograph from private Album of Alan Lanyon president of SMBSMG

Having a love for equine animals, especially brumbies, it brought me to a most interesting and honestly rewarding path; that of being a brumby advocate.  I also have a great interest and read much on political philosophy and political theories, but I am not an activist at heart.  Hence, I am an advocate, and I am inclined to observe and ask where we need change within the management of wild brumbies in Australia.  

In this post we will analyse the human condition that relates to the way the Australian government manage the wild horse population in their national parks, we will discuss whom we should look to for knowledge on brumbies, discuss brumbies history and their behaviours, what the problems are with the methods implemented in the management of brumbies and how we could make and implement changes to benefit the brumbies and all those involved. 

SEARCHING FOR KNOWLEDGE

 We tend to listen to the government on how our citadel is to be run, but governments, as all other aspects of society comes with conditioning of thought. That means that we are conditioned to our way of thinking, as they stipulate our laws, and we abide by them. Henceforth, according to the Australian Government, Brumbies are not considered native to Australia, and are deemed as feral animals and believed to be a pest to our environment. (Take an aspirin before you read this link.) 🤦‍♀️😥😳

  I was told by a pro environmentalist that is a KNP supporter to visit Kosciuszko National Park and see for myself the damage that brumbies do to the environment.  That is, that they are destroying the environment because they are not native to Australia and that they are feral domesticated animals that have become pests to the environment.  Something along those lines. But one or 100 trips is not going to give me the knowledge I seek. What do I even look for?  An imprint of a horse’s hoof is not going to explain anything to me, because I do not agree with the Governments view. Or the view of any pro environmentalist as they follow the Government line.  In my logic and ethics, no animal is feral or a pest and all animals in Australia are native to Australia.  Those are conditions brought by laws and social standards.  Then if not the Government we need to listen to then whom? A scientist?  A jockey?  A horse breeder?  So, I went in search of another Australian Icon, the bushman.

 The bushman is iconic as the brumby is to Australia, and I understood that this is not only about horses but also about the environment and Australian History. 🎦 * 📚  Foremost, this is about wild brumbies and their environment.  So, a scientist will tell me his theory of what he thinks in his observation it should be, according to his line of thought.  A jockey can show me how to ride a domesticated horse, and a horse breeder can tell me all about horses, but not necessarily wild horses in their environment.  A bushman on the other hand, goes off to the bush and lives amongst nature, off the grid as they say, and with it comes years of experience of what he sees and knows as a bush man. No one can learn that on a field trip or a 100 bush hikes.  It takes a lifetime. You must be part of that environment and understand it with your soul as well as intellectually and physically. 

 Shortly,  I introduce you to Alan Lanyon an experienced bushman, to tell us what he knows about brumbies, from their way of life in the wild, to what our government is doing to these horses. Why they should stay, what damage is really done by them if any and how they are trapped.

TRAP Photograph private collection Alan Lanyon 

But with it comes a little twist before we move on.  As governments either trap or cull brumbies by laws set up by the government, it is legal thus at this moment to cull and trap. To begin with, culling by aerial shooting and ground shooting should be outlawed in my view, so we need laws to change and as I am not an activist but an observer, I see that politicians come and go, but laws stay and only change with change of ideals, a change of thinking within a citadel. That means the change we need is likened to the change we had in our penal system when the death penalty in goals was part of law and now it is outlawed in Australia and inconceivable as a society to have such a law as the death penalty. ⚖ Thus, the law was changed, and so should culling by aerial or ground shooting of horses follow suit. It is barbaric and it should be seen as cruelty to animals.

 

That leaves us with trapping as management of horses cannot be stopped since we have taken over the world and manage wildlife in small pockets called National Parks. 🌳   So, management is introduced by the government within our citadels, but presently, wild horse management is not managed well at all.  Also, the reality is that even if, for example, a fertility program was to be introduced, trapping is still needed for the management of fertility programs.  So, the question is how to better trap for management.  And may I add here, even if we believe that animals should be free and wild, the ‘Prometheus problem’ is at the forefront, and thus we can argue ‘no trapping’ ever. To do this, one must understand that we need to change the way we live and see nature, we need to take out ‘Prometheus’ from our citadels and revert back to nature.📚  In explanation, our modern cities have caused us to manage everything as we live out of nature and in our own created realities.  It is a mammoth change and is a whole new discussion, and attempts have been promoted like rewilding in Europe.  But this is going off topic as it does not solve our problem now and is a whole new post, which I will eventually write about, rather than just paint. It is complex and its not just as simple as leave them in the wild without management, because we have not let nature be alone without management.  We reinvented nature to suit our needs. That is the problem. It is our pseudo modernity, that I refer to as 'Prometheus', that needs to change to leave the brumbies alone in the wild to let nature take its' path. 🎭  📖

         

Therefore, as I investigated and searched for knowledge on the matter of why we manage horses, and how and what we should do, I was put in contact with Alan and here I asked him many questions and for a series of videos and asked if he could film the horses in the traps. Alan being a very articulate but passionate person film it and posted this on his FB group with his activist rant to boot and suddenly, a division between pro brumby people has come to surface. 

 THE PROBLEMS WITH HORSE MANAGEMENT AT PRESENT

 The people are in uproar as the brumby mobs are being divided, foals separated from their mothers and injuries to the brumbies sustained in trapping. Understandably so. People keep asking to let the brumbies go. Yes, we agree, I would let them go too especially knowing that they may end up in a knackery and not to a rehomer, I would be the first to knock gates down and break up cages. But if we do, we are doing something that is against the law and could be arrested for it or fined. The same argument is on the other side, of course, where Parks officials if they do not contact rehomers before sending these horses to the knackeries they too are doing something illegal.  The most important thing to remember here is, that trapping is legal and the removal of horses from KNP is legal, also aerial and ground culling are legal under certain circumstances. Hence the changes are to be made here and urgently so. (Advised this link is graphic) 🚫

Photograph private collection Alan Lanyon

 What is evident is that rehoming has been the only true saviour of these beautiful sentient beings now, working with this mismanagement.  Government will not stop until laws change and that may take years to do so, therefore, this is the only and most sensible alternative at present.  Therefore, rehomers liaise with Parks officials and even here we have another twist. 

 This twist is due to human nature and ideas of ethics, for me it is the human condition in the works and thus people tend to break laws sometimes for good but other times for profit, or self-preservation. ✋🏽 To explain, a rehomer signs a government contract, where he puts himself down on a list and in the contract, it has a clause that he cannot take the brumbies to slaughter before 3 months of him having them as his property. Now a rehomer must take five brumbies at a time, and some take thirty or more at a time. So, to remain transparent let us call the rehomers that takes brumbies straight from parks primary rehomers.  Now the primary rehomers sign this contract. So, no brumby in their care can go to slaughter before 3 months. But as you have it, apparently there are known rehomers that take the brumbies straight to the knackeries and all involved get a handout, as taking these brumbies to the knackeries for meat is obviously more profitable than training or feeding the brumbies and vet visitations too, as they are costly. (warning graphic video) 🚫 The problem is the human condition. 📚 Now who these people are, cannot be said but some know about it and turn a blind eye, but others do not, but what is sure is that it has been happening for years and its time to stop this in its entirety. Unfortunately, money is always a factor in a capitalist society like ours, so the problem once again lies on the laws that are stipulated and change to better protect the brumbies and minimise such behaviours.  Laws again need to change.  

To implement these changes and make them law, we need firstly to understand the procedures before we can access anything and utterly understand the complexity of the world of wild brumbies.  We need to see then, what we could do to better the procedure, how to stop illegal activities that are detrimental to the brumbies and how better to manage them in parks. Most would say simply, ‘let us leave them in the wild’, but management is still needed within our citadels, as stated before, so, the question is how to better manage with trapping.   

 The biggest problem with trapping is how they choose the brumbies that are to survive, what they leave behind and what should be done with the ones taken out.  As disclosed before, they call listed rehomers, and if there are not enough rehomers, the brumbies are taken to slaughter (included are the illegal trucks going straight to slaughter on the side as we mentioned before).  How they choose which brumby to release back in the wild or take is the immediate problem, and how they trap and what procedures they take while trapping is the problem, as laws need to change first, let us remember that as we continue.  If wild brumbies were banned from being sent to the knackeries that would be a start, but that is not going to happen soon, so alternatives need to be thought of so both the Government, Parks and Pro brumby people can rest assured that each of our different goals are met and respected.     

Therefore, this post will show you all about trapping, but before you all decide to become vigilantes, please remember that at present, it is legal to trap and what we are analysing here is how they trap, the problems caused by the way they trap, and what we could do to change trapping for better management that will result and benefit all especially the wild brumbies. 

 THE BUSHMAN

KNP Private collection Photograph  Alan Lanyon

To begin with I will introduce you to Alan, but before I do, I will explain some of what Alan is all about.  Alan Lanyon is a bushman,  someone that holds profound respect for the mountains and the history related to it and regularly travels to the mountains,  breathing the alpine air for over thirty years. He is also a pro brumby advocate and activist. He starts conversations and arguments and keeps all Government officials and Parks officials on their toes.  He is the cofounder and president of a group called Snowy Mountain Brumby Sustainability and Management Group and has been doing this not for a day, but decades.  Pro brumby supporters may come and go but Alan Lanyon with a few others are the founders of this movement and are here to stay.  But he is also a bushman.  So not only is he one of the founders of the pro brumby movement, but he has also 35 years of professional experience of the bush.  As I stated before, Alan is a bushman that goes off to the bush and lives amongst nature, off the grid as they say, and with it comes his 35 years of experience of what he sees and knows as a bush man.  No one can learn that on a field trip or a 100 bush hikes, as I professed before. Please keep in mind as we continue,   

  that he is also an activist, so his approach is somewhat political to say the least. 🐴

Here are a few words from Alan;

A big g'day to our true-blue snowy brumby supporter friends everywhere that want to keep our legendary and iconic snowy brumby mobs safe and where they belong, in their mountain homelands.

   Welcome to this introduction to Snowy Mountain Brumby Sustainability and Management Group, my name is Alan Lanyon, President of SMBSMG since its inception and a recreational horse-rider through the mountains for the last 35 years.  I am one of a small, but resolute team committed to keeping the mountain brumbies running free. 

SMBSMG began in 2013 following a phenomenally successful community interest meeting where several resolutions were passed by those present. The community interest meeting was in response to community concern and unrest at the unchallenged and unregulated brumby trapping and management programme that was being run at that time and the failure of the Liberal/National Government to honour a Memorandum of Understanding signed by them in 2006.

   One of our greatest assets has been our Fact-based Facebook campaign designed to heighten public awareness of the government trapping and removal of brumbies for slaughter then being undertaken by the anti- brumby movement. The anti-brumby campaign was then and still is co-ordinated and promoted by groups such as National Parks Association, Wilderness Society, Invasive Species Council and ‘Reclaim Kossi’.

   These organisations and groups are politically influential, having the ear of the current Environment Minister Kean whenever it suits their agenda. They are extremely efficient at spreading their fake science and facts to a compliant media. They are also extremely well-funded, and how much of their finances comes from Government funding one can only guess, which makes our pro brumby efforts that more difficult to achieve.

  While our Facebook page is criticised and called adversarial, confrontational, and controversial it has been effective in peeling back the wall of secrecy that had kept the brumby issue from public scrutiny for so long. As part of SMBSMG's exposure regime frequent trips into the mountains are made to check on the different mobs and scrutinise the National Parks & Wildlife Society activities.

  SMBSMG have always contended that the brumby mobs have successfully integrated into the sub-alpine eco-systems over the last 160 years since Europeans first visited the mountains. Furthermore, the proposition of integration and co-existence is now being supported by scientific studies and reports both domestically and overseas.

   SMBSMG's over-arching philosophy is that there is room in the mountains for sustainably managed mobs of horses as an integral part of mountain heritage, history, and culture.

   SMBSMG support the proposition that the mobs must be sustainably managed to ensure, for future generations, an ongoing brumby presence in the mountains.

 Alan Lanyon.

KNP Brumby Eating dandelions? Photograph private collection Alan Lanyon 

THE HISTORY OF THE BRUMBIES AND THEIR BEHAVIOURS

 The brumbies were horses brought here by settlement in 1788. Seven horses came with the first fleet.  By 1800 there was about 200 of them. Many species of animals were introduced in the first 100 years or so for the settlement and then for recreation. That includes livestock, domesticated dogs and cats, rabbits and deer for hunting and other equine breeds were brought in too.

Eventually the horses became their own ancestry developing breeds like the Australian stock horse and the Waler. 🐴🧾 
Brumbies are the descendants of the Walers, dating back in some cases to those belonging to the early European settlers. Then history has it that a man called Brumby, left Australia to go back home and decided to let his horses free.  Then other horses that escaped from farms and so on, as well as the Walers they became the icon of Australiana stories with the offtake of the ‘Silver Brumby’, and ‘The man from snowy river’. 🎠  Today they live in many places, including some National Parks, notably in Kosciuszko National Park, Alpine National Park in Victoria, Barmah Forest, Barrington Tops National Park in NSW, and Carnarvon National Park in Queensland.   🏔 * 🐎 * 🌳

KNP Private photograph Alan Lanyon

 Occasionally they are mustered and domesticated for use as camp drafters, working stock horses on farms or stations, but also as trail horses, show horses, Pony Club mounts and pleasure horses. They are also the subject of some controversy as previously mentioned. They are regarded as a pest and threat to native ecosystems by environmentalists and the government, but also valued by others, like myself,  as part of Australia's heritage, and argued as native of their environment with supporters working to prevent inhumane treatment or extermination, and rehoming brumbies that have been captured.  📔 Government throughout Australia culls them either via aerial or ground shooting or traps them for rehoming.

 Brumbies are a mixed breed of a refined war horse, the Waler, Australian stock horse that developed through breed of Clydesdales to Thoroughbreds to Timor Ponies and to Arabian.  They are highly intelligent, placid, and calm, unlike their counter parts like pure thoroughbreds for example that are highly nervous at the best of times.  They have a high standard of family values and are highly social beings. 🐴                    

They live in mobs of no more than 20, with a lead stallion and other stallions too sometimes in the mob with several mares. Stallions are highly protective of their families and loyal to their friends. They have hierarchies within their mob and between mobs, so there may be a main leader or leaders amongst them.  They morn each other and aid each other in need of help.  The younger stallions roam alone once old enough to begin their own mob and socialise between each other and sometimes play or try to steal mares off another stallion and fight for dominance.  A stallion may also have a favourite mare within his mob.  Mares will foal one or occasionally two, as twins are rare and each mare may foal once every year at a maximum as their gestation period is 11 months. 🐎  Another observation is that the brumbies as most animals will keep their procreation down if they know there is not enough food, an example is that mares may induce their own abortion if they see too many foals or are under stress and feel threatened, they do think, and are highly intelligent creatures as stated before.   

Mobs also come together with other mobs as in times of need for unity, or socialising.  One interesting behaviour is when they come together in flight. Alan explained to me that horses do that was they feel threatened or in danger and thus come together in flight.  Alan was taking a video of the landscape when he noticed the horses come up from the plain in flight.   There is a lot to learn about these beautiful creatures, and Alan is the one to show us. 🎥
 

PRESENT WAY OF TRAPPING WITH THE DEATH PENS

  In talking with Alan, a man of few words with a high aptitude for nature explained also how the government lures the brumbies to the death pen traps as they are called. One interesting part was regarding the lick salts, as I asked if brumbies do dig as they are said to destroy the environment by digging. 

Alan explained that the parks use salt licks that attract the horse, these seep into the ground and because of that they sometimes dig to get the salt they crave. Therefore, we understand that if a horse has ever dug in KNP, it was because man has interfered with his environment. 🐴🌳  No lick salts, no digging, unless they are in the desert in search for water. 🐴 * 🐎

Parks,  also use molasses as shown in the next video. Once the horse knows that in these areas, there are treats to his liking, they then place a death pen around and leave the gate open with a trigger gate so then brumbies eventually become trapped.  They are then placed on trucks and either sent to the knackeries or rehomers as some never even get a chance to be rehome as specified earlier due to illegal practises.  Then if not enough rehomers’ for the rehomed ones, they too end up at the knackeries. 

The next video is of the traps, and in understanding on how they trap, they seem to destroy the area around as it takes trucks to get there, area to clear for the traps and human movement daily as traps are open for weeks and traps are emptied every 24hrs.  🎞🎦

 HOW BRUMBIES ARE AFFECTED BY TRAPPING

 This section is probably the most important.  As trapping is presently done considering the animal as a commodity or feral and a pest, little consideration if any is given to the ‘sentient being’.
It is transparent that we are in effect creating a type of genocide to these beautiful creatures.  Imagine now, an alien comes to earth and starts to trap us like animals. Much like the 1970’s film and series of 'Planet of the apes' where the relation ship of man to ape is scrutinised.  But the reality is as in planet of the apes, apes are not alien they are animals on earth as are brumbies.  Thus, we need to analyse our view of animals and the way we think of them. 🐒
(this video is 'Prometheus' at best) 🙊🙉🙈

 

THE FAMILY STRUCTURES

KNP BRUMBIES photograph private collection Alan Lanyon

 As mentioned before horses have s highly ethical family structure. It has been observed while trapping that mares will not leave their foal if trapped in the death pens alone and will linger behind and be captured to remain with their foal.  The other observation is that the stallions will not leave their families until they realise, they cannot do anything more and take flight in fear, at the sight of humans and thus then regroup at a social level, taking in mares with foals that lost their stallion, solidarity becomes evident and at the forefront. Another observation is when trapped brumbies have been relocated to domestic homes and then find themselves reunited with one of their mob, it has been observed how they greet and restate their family structure if they had the luck to do so, as in the story of Brin and Bessie for example. 💖  All these observations tell us that we are disrupting their families and no consideration is given.  If this was to be a human family, what are we to say then?  Man in his arrogance has created such genocides to themselves. It is then no surprise that horses have no chance. But that is where I say no. This too can change. In trapping we should consider mobs, and family structures. Horses have a very profound mourning ritual amongst themselves that is impressive.🐎😥😥  We should not be dividing families if possible and we should consider mothers with their foals and be aware of what mob each horse captured belongs to. Therefore, they need to be considered by family not just individual horses. 🎞🐎🎥🏔
 
 

REHOMING FOR MANAGEMENT

 If the trapping is to remain as the only way to control numbers of the wild horse population, without fertility control then laws need to be different yet again.  The plan of management that the government has is inadequate. We, Alan, of SMBSMG and myself along with rehomer, Moreen Levin of Clearview have already done a call out for a change to the plan of management. 📁  You must read this pdf link before you continue, to understand the complexity of the changes 
 

IMMIDIATE CHANGES NEEDED

 I will add here my personal points of what the plan of management should have implemented in addition to the one already proposed in the call out for one. In the call out we mention how a pro brumby representative should be present at trapping as well as pro brumby cameras implemented to always ensure the safety of the animals. But there are many other things that could be added.

To begin with and foremost all culling by aerial shooting or ground shooting is to be made illegal and banned. It is a cruel practise and should never have been instated in the first place. 

The other that must change is that no wild brumby should ever see a knackery in any program.   There is such a thing as euthanasia and this too to be used only as a last resort for the benefit of the horse not the benefit of our greed.  This should be funded by the government.  

Rehomers need financial support as once you take a horse out of a wild environment our laws stipulate that they need to be treated as a domesticated animal. Hence one must feed the animal, and provide shelter as well as vet care. One cannot let the animal be to let nature take its cause. It must be looked after. 

 The horses are divided and transported into trucks and handed over to holding pens where rehomers take their brumbies, this means the rehomer pays for  their own transport too. This should be subsidised by the government. 
 

The next is that the horse should be  seen as a sentient being not just a commodity.

THE HORSE AS A SENTIENT BEING.

 Photograph private collection Alan Lanyon

 In this society horses are seen as a commodity and sometimes as a forever friend if you are a horse lover. But horses are special in that respect. We have built nations with horses, used them for transport, they helped us in our work, and we used them to fight our wars.   You have very few wild horses left on earth and when captured they have integrated in domesticity generally well, especially brumbies. What is unique about brumbies,  is that they were domesticated then adapted to their environment and became wild again. That makes them special and unique in their study.  Maybe the nearest study may be that of burros in America as they are not native to the Americas and being an equine animal have pretty much many similarities, but still another of the equine family of horses as are ponies. *  Hence the brumby is unique due to its cross breeding and interbreeding and above all has the ancestry of the Walers as a base, that makes the real brumby.  I may say at this point the brumby has the similar dilemma as the Maremmano horse, a type of ‘stock horse’ in the Tuscan region.🐴   The breeding of the Tuscan horse had to be taken back and re analysed and now a breeding program was established to ensure the breed does not become extinct as well as inter breeding to perfect it into a modern breed of the Maremmano. 🐎  Many breeds face this dilemma.  But again, the brumby has it even worse as unlike the Australian stock horse or the Waler, it is not even seen as a breed by the government,  but as a feral horse.   

So here our first consideration is to retain the blood lines in the breed. To then have a breeding plan implemented within the national parks to ensure the brumby retains the ancestral blood of the Walers as well as retaining good stock within the wild breed of the brumby.  This of course is not to say that I would not prefer for the animals to run wild and free without any of our intervention. That would be my ultimate dream.  But as I stated at the start,  we are considering all involved and that includes Parks and our current government, that includes the management of wild horses. 

 
FERTILITY PROGRAMS 

The trapping program to date is for rehoming and most rehomers cannot keep families together, therefore in my view, the trapping should be considered only for fertility monitoring and breed blood line interventions.  Numbers can be kept down by fertility vaccines in mares. Such as the vaccine used in America, the Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP). 💉  Stallions that are genetically weak or impaired should be gelded therefore family numbers will be kept down as well as genetical improvement implemented. It is that simple.  No more rehoming, and no more trapping for slaughter.   Numbers will be kept down systematically with such a system.   Without the fertility program, rehoming would still have to be implemented to manage numbers. But then numbers need to be monitored better and calculated properly as stated before and not like now with an outdated system to suit the Government needs. ♟🌗♟ Remember here, that nature could still look after itself without our management. But I repeat,  we are considering all involved and that includes Parks and our current government, that includes the management of wild horses.

REWILDERING AND INTEGRATION

KNP BRUMBIES Photograph private collection Alan Lanyon

This subject needs to be explained in much more detail, but must be mentioned as part of the changes.

Originally when settlement happened in Australia, there were no laws regarding restrictions of what animals may be introduced in this unique ecosystem.  As years of settlement continued and our awareness of  the impact of the introduced species came to the forefront, attempts to revert it have been made, hence parks were created, mastering of animals was restricted to private lands and thus, the ecosystem now is unmanaged as other introduced species are out of control due to having changed the impact. 🐎📽

The argument here is that firstly, once we have already introduced species and nature has been working with it for already 200 years, it would eventually re-establish a new diverse ecosystem with its implemented changes, but unfortunately we did not give nature enough time to continue its own adaptation, hence by making and implementing these changes we have disrupted the natural transition. This was done as pro environmentalist believe only native animals that were here in 1788 should remain in the wild.  That includes  Fauna as well as flora.  

So I ask now, what about the dandelions?  If we cannot eradicate  this weed and now understand that it has become part of the environment and accepted as part of the Australian flora, lets understand then that this is possible with all fauna too. 

 

Alan in his short introduction mentions the integration and co-existence  of introduced species in the environment.  The reclaimed mustering land of KNP is the affected area that everyone is in controversy about, and the fact is that this was already changing, studies of rewilding have been successful in parts of Europe and the Americas. 📑

Let me leave you with one last thought.  I will list a few things next that are introduced species and introduced impacts on the land, and have impacted the eco system substantially. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT, MODERN CITADELS, ALL TYPES OF FARMING LIKE RICE FARMING, WHEAT FARMS, CATTLE FARMS,  SHEEP FARMS,  MACHINERY,  MINING,  DOGS, CATS, DEER, PIGS, RABBITS, FOXES, COMMON HOUSE MICE, CERTAIN SPECIES OF COCKROACHES,CAMELS, COMMERCIAL HONEY BEES,  EUROPEAN WASPS, FIRE ANT, DANDELIONS.  🤦‍♀️   

I urge for humanity to think about change. Change, the way we see animals and the way we think about them and review the way we live as well as the way we manage Parks. The problem as stated before is with our human condition and our pseudo modernity that has changed even the way we farm. This is not the farmers fault,  but governments fault and our need to survive under the conditions we are given, hence farming has become a mass production too, due to our 'Prometheus', and our want to control nature,  but Nature knows best,  not us. (this video is graphic and questions our social acceptance of our modern world.) 🐄🐮🐑🐷🚫

We need to have awareness of our surroundings and how we could implement change. Change for the better. One step at a time. Brumbies wild and forever without our intervention.

If this brumby could talk "Leave me alone mate!"

KNP brumby photograph Alan Lanyon. 

I would like to thank Alan Lanyon for all his time and knowledge he so willing gave with ease. I would also like to thank Moreen Levin and Paul Johnston of Clearview brumby rescue for their extensive knowledge and help they gave me to help me create this post. My three musketeers! 

Author:  

Syndy Esteves, Visual Artist & brumby Advocate.

Copyright of: 

Snowy Mountain Sustainability & Management Group,  NSWBrumbies.com, freethebrumbies.blogspot.com, syndyartist.blogspot.com