'Greenbank' brumby slaughter
There was no excuse for this slaughter
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On Wednesday morning 27th Oct. '04, five brumbies were needlessly slaughtered by three employees (animal control staff) of the Ipswich City Council, Queensland.
The slaughter took place at Sandy Creek in the Logan Shire by these Ipswich City Council workers as they thought they were within the Ipswich City limits.
(The shire boundary sign is located at the wrong position).
3 This very pregnant mare was shot down, and the kicking from the unborn foal inside its mother was seen for a short time after.
3 All five brumbies were shot dead outside the locked gate leading into the army
reserve, their home. The locked gate leading into their home can be seen between the two red arrows placed on the image. The chain could have easily been cut, or 4 bolts undone to open the gate, or the Army could have unlocked the gate. There was also another locked gate very close by.
3 The locked gate which could have easily been opened to allow the brumbies to return to the Reserve.

Another alternative could have been to place stock panels on the other side of the underside of the bridge and chase them under the bridge and hold them there until a solution was found.
Background to the slaughter
The 'Greenbank Firing Range' is an Army Reserve on the outskirts of Brisbane City, Queensland, consisting
of a few thousand acres of bush land where military training is carried out.
The reserve is home to a number of brumbies, and some domestic horses which have been released over
many years. Some estimates of numbers vary between 70 to 100 and 200 to 300 - no one really knows.
Brumbies escape from the reserve at times, particularly when trail bike riders cut the fence when entering the
reserve for a 'fun day' out. Escaping brumbies have been shot in the past, with one being hit by a car.
On the 3 February 2003 BWA wrote to the Ipswich City Council offering assistance with catching /containing
escaped brumbies after some had previously been needlessly shot.
On 14 March 2003 the Ipswich City Council responded stating that the council would be interested in any
assistance that BWA may be able to provide. Our offer of assistance may have been lost in beaurecratic
paperwork and overlooked.

The events of Tuesday night 26th, and Wednesday morning 27th October 2004
On Tuesday night about 10.30pm these 5 brumbies were outside a house about 120 metres (direct line through
the bush) from the break in the fence where they had escaped.
The occupant of this house, a lady, suggested to the council workers when they arrived there that they should
chase the brumbies back towards and through the break. They ignored her suggestion and said that they would
come back in the morning.
On Wednesday morning this lady became concerned and went looking for the brumbies on her bicycle.
She found them between 10.00am to 10.30am just after they had been shot on the side of a highway
about 2 to 3 kilometres from her house.
They were shot just outside the Reserve (the brumbies had followed the Reserve fence but were on the
wrong side). She was most distressed, and after slipping over in some mud, she was laughed at by the
council workers.
She went home and returned in her car with her camera. After taking photos, she then watched them commence loading the bodies onto a truck.

Just prior to the shooting, two men in a maintenance truck from a State Government department stopped when
they saw the brumbies, council vehicles and a police car.
They witnessed the shooting.

BWA interviewed one of these passer-by maintenance workers:- a summary:
A 243 sports rifle was used.
The stallion was shot, he went down onto his front knees and got up again and staggered around while
shaking his head with blood spurting everywhere. He was shot a second time and continued to stagger
around. On the third shot he went down.
After the pregnant mare (possibly 10 months in foal) was shot and went down onto the ground, one of
the council workers commented at the unborn foal kicking inside its mother. The maintenance man who
BWA interviewed, then saw the kicking from the unborn foal. His fellow worker also saw this.
After all five brumbies were on the ground, the shooter went to check if they were all dead. One was still
breathing but stopped breathing of its own accord very shortly after it was noticed still breathing.
At one stage one of the council workers jokingly made the comment that they were doing target practice.
One said "There's more in there". Was he implying that if more came out of the Reserve, they would
be back to shoot them also? One can only wonder.

From reading articles in the local newspaper 'The Queensland Times', and interviewing witnesses it is obvious
that the Ipswich City Councillors have been misinformed by their so-called Animal Controller's.

A desired outcome
BWA would like to see these three council workers severely disciplined and possibly dismissed from
the Ipswich City Council.
BWA, in conjunction with Equine Care Group, would like to be notified if any more brumbies escape
from the Army reserve and work in with the Ipswich City Council when the need arises.
(BWA has members and supporters with much more experience with wild horses than these macho, egotistical,
gun happy, council 'cowboys', and is able to provide a number of volunteers should such a situation arise again.)
The section of fence where brumbies escape from the reserve is a run-down barbed-wire fence and
should be improved immediately. It is believed that the Army will eventually replace the barbed-wire
section of fence with a mesh fence (similar to as seen in the photo with the gate).

Please protest to the Ipswich City Councillors (contact details below)
Please protest to the Ipswich City Councillors over the unacceptable and disgraceful actions,
behaviours and attitudes of these council workers, and the unacceptable and needless slaughter of
these five brumbies.
There is no need for such a slaughter to occur again.

Contact details for protesting about Council's workers

Councillor Andrew Antoniolli (Councillor responsible for animal control staff)
Health & Regulation Committee chairman
Email andrewa@gil.com.au
Office (07) 3810 6208 Mobile Service 0419 025 407 Fax (07) 3810 6730

Councillor David Morrison (Councillor responsible for this area of shire)
Email davidm@gil.com.au
Office (07) 3818 3100 Mobile Service 0408 985 615 Fax (07) 3818 1680

Councillor Paul Pisasale (Ipswich City Mayor)
Email paulp@gil.com.au
Office (07) 3810 6201 Fax (07) 3810 6730

Ipswich City Council (General contact details)
Email: council@gil.com.au
General office (07) 3810 6666 Fax (07) 3810 6731
PO Box 191, Ipswich Queensland 4305

3 The red arrow points down the bank to where
the brumbies were confined and shot.
The brumbies were well confined between the bank with the guard rails on top of bank (per photo), the Reserve fence (running parallel to the highway) and council workers at each end (each end was just over 20m wide between the Reserve fence and the guard rails).
The other locked 4
gate close by.
Note: more slaughter photos further below
From the Sunday Mail newsopaper, dated Novermber 7, 2004
3 In the vicinity of the red car is where the brumbies were the night before they were slaughtered. About 120m through the bush is where the break in the fence was where they escaped.
3 This is where the break in the barbed -wire fence was.
It was repaired slightly by a local resident.
The far side of the fence is the Army Reserve.
<< To page 2
View what the Ipswich Council and RSPCA are saying about the slaughter.