Brumby Watch Australia - GFRNP- Horrific slaughter ___

The slaughter
On October 22nd to 24th 2000, hundreds of brumbies were secretly slaughtered in the Guy Fawkes River National Park by the government department known as the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The brumbies were shot from the air by three gunmen in helicopters. Due to the nature of the terrain being rough and covered with trees, this slaughter of the brumbies resulted in more than one bullet being needed for many of the horses. Many brumbies suffered a terrifying and slow death.

The slaughter went ahead secretly with no advice given to, nor consultation sought from the Australian public or Animal Welfare Groups. When the slaughter was discovered, one of the claims of the National Parks and Wildlife Service was that the brumbies were starving and dying from lack of food due to bush fires that had gone through the park. There were bush fires in the park, but the brumbies were not starving as has be verified by photos.

When the slaughter was carried out, a proper check wasn't done to ensure that people weren't in the park at the time. The famous National Horse Trail goes through this park. Two ladies from New South Wales rode their horses right into the slaughter zone. They were quickly advised by National Parks staff to leave the park and were told that the aerial riflemen were shooting feral goats and pigs.

New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and the law
An environmental law was broken because some brumby carcasses were left where they shouldn't have been, such as in flood plains. The Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 ( NSW ) defines water pollution as the placing or introducing, whether through act or omission, of any matter which makes the water or is likely to make the water unclean. This also includes placing any matter in a position where it falls or is likely to fall, descend, wash, blow or percolates into any waters, dry beds of any water, or into any drain, channel or gutter.

Public response to the slaughter
When news of this horrific brumby slaughter was released by the media, the Australian public were outaged that such an act could be carried out by a government department. It was so unAustralian. The news of this slaughter also reached a number of countries around the world, with the United States of America being a major protestor. The New South Wales government, their National Parks and Wildlife Service, and Dr Anthony English (who was employed by the government to produce a supposed independent investigation of the cull ) received many emails and letters of protest from overseas, especially from the United States.