The Victorian Government released the Protection of the Alpine National Park: Feral Horse Action Plan 2021, on 1 November 2021. The plan outlines the approach to manage feral horses in the Alpine National Park and adjacent state forests over a ten-year period. 

The alpine landscape is extremely rare, representing just 0.3 per cent of the Australian land area. Its survival is threatened by the impacts of introduced animals such as deer, pigs and horses. Feral animal management is part of an integrated approach to protecting sensitive environmental values across Victoria’s parks and reserves. 

With increases in the size and distribution of feral horse populations, the impact on habitats from the Black Summer bushfires and the limitations of previous management methods, the Victorian Government is committed to urgent action to manage the feral horse population within the Alpine National Park. 

The Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 follows the Protection of the Alpine National Park – Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-21, building on previous feral horse management experience, public consultation in 2018 and 2021, and consultation with independent veterinary, welfare and ecology experts. 

Parks Victoria will continue to work closely with our partners in the humane control of feral horses to reduce their impacts; including removing small, isolated populations and preventing spread into new areas using the most humane, safe and effective techniques, including lethal and non-lethal methods. The preferred methods of managing feral horses include trapping and rehoming, tightly managed shooting and construction of small-scale exclusion fences. 

Implementation of the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 will be monitored closely for effectiveness in controlling feral horse numbers and reducing their impacts on the fragile Alpine National Park. 

To protect the safety and welfare of Parks Victoria staff, contractors and community members, operational details (such as timing and location of feral horse control operations) are not publicly released. 

 

Documents 

Protection of the Alpine National Park: Feral Horse Action Plan 2021  (11.1MB PDF) 
Protection of the Alpine National Park: Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 (6.8MB MS word document) 

Response to 2021 consultation feedback (253KB PDF) 
Response to 2021 consultation feedback (118KB MS word document) 

Previous plans 

Protection of the Alpine National Park - Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-2021 (5.4MB PDF) 
See the Engagement Summary Report in Appendix 2 of the Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-2021. 

Frequently asked questions 

 

What is the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021? 

This plan has been prepared to enable the achievement of the strategy for humane feral horse control set out in the Greater Alpine National Parks Management Plan (2016), to reduce the severe damage to vulnerable alpine vegetation communities and habitats, and to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage. 

The Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 follows the Protection of the Alpine National Park – Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-21 and focuses on how feral horses will be removed from the Alpine National Park from 2021. 
 
Since the original Action Plan was released in June 2018, significant changes to the context of managing feral horses in the Alps have occurred (including the impacts of the Black Summer bushfires), requiring reconsideration of the methods for their management. 

What are the key actions of the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021? 

This plan outlines Parks Victoria’s intentions for the humane control of feral horses to reduce their impacts, protect Aboriginal cultural heritage and conduct horse management humanely and safely. 

Parks Victoria will:  

• continue to trap feral horses for rehoming to the extent that suitable rehoming applicants can be found. 
• implement the most humane, safe and effective horse control techniques, including using professional shooters, to remove feral horses ranging across areas of high conservation value. 
• conduct all horse management operations according to strict standards for animal welfare and public safety. 
• periodically repeat surveys of feral horse populations in the eastern Alps and in the Bogong-Cobungra area. 
• monitor the condition of sensitive vegetation and habitats, including alpine mossbeds, peatlands and streambanks. 

What impact did public feedback have on the final Feral Horse Action Plan 2021? 

The public consultation in March-April 2021 received more than 1,800 submissions, providing insight into stakeholder and community views and attitudes toward feral horse control in the Alpine National Park, along with valuable suggestions to improve the rehoming program. 

When will implementation of the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 begin? 

Implementation of Parks Victoria’s feral horse management programs is underway and will be ongoing.  

For detail about rehoming opportunities, please see Feral Horses.

To protect the safety and welfare of Parks Victoria staff, contractors and community members, operational details (such as timing and location of feral horse control operations) are not publicly released. 

Parks Victoria is also actively working with Victoria Police to protect the welfare of all people involved in the program.  

Will Parks Victoria continue to rehome captured feral horses? 

Yes, Parks Victoria will build on its existing rehoming program. For detail about rehoming opportunities, please see the Feral Horses webpage. 

Protocols for rehoming have been developed with input from the RSPCA and other animal welfare experts, including carrying out the necessary veterinary inspections to assess whether a property is suitable for rehoming feral horses. 

Four rounds of invitation to rehome horses were provided between November 2019 to September 2020.  
Round 1 targeted identified animal/horse welfare groups and sanctuaries (17).  

Rounds 2-4 invited members of the public to provide Expressions of Interest (EOI’s) and was promoted extensively through paid advertising in regional and horse-related publications.  

In response, Parks Victoria received over 300 enquiries, resulting in 10 completed EOIs from suitable applicants and offers to rehome between 38 and 51 feral horses per year (between both Alpine and Barmah national parks). Parks Victoria is working with these people and groups to action rehoming opportunities. However, some of these applications did not meet the necessary standards with veterinarian support verifying an ability to care for rehomed horses.  

 

What is Parks Victoria doing about all the other invasive animals? (e.g. deer, goats, foxes) 

This plan relates only to the management of feral horses in the Alpine National Park. Extensive ongoing programs are managing other invasive animals across the Alpine National Park, with successful large-scale removal of multiple species including more than 4,300 deer in fire-affected regions over the past 12 months. 

For information on Parks Victoria’s other feral animal control programs, visit the Feral animals webpage. 

More detail about Victoria's large-scale program to protect biodiversity after the 2019-20 bushfires, visit Deer and feral animal control in response to bushfire and Biodiversity Bushfire Response and Recovery. 

What information was used to develop the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021? 

The Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 builds on the previous plan, the Protection of the Alpine National Park – Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-21, which was developed based on decades of scientific evidence and conservation management programs carried out in the Alpine National Park.  

It also included expert input from alpine ecologists, and national and international experts in feral animal control and animal welfare. In the three years leading up to the release of the 2018-21 plan, there was extensive engagement with community-based advisory groups, interviews with key peak and regional interest groups, and a Victorian community perception survey. The draft 2018-21 plan was released for public consultation between 22 December 2017 and 16 February 2018.  

The (Draft) Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 was release for public consultation between 26 March to 23 April 2021.  

Since the release of the Protection of the Alpine National Park – Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-21, further scientific evidence of the damage caused by feral horses and the collective threats to alpine ecosystems and wildlife has been gathered and was summarised by the Australian Academy of Science in the publication, Feral Horse Impacts: The Kosciuszko Science Conference – Conference Abstracts (2018) 

The plan also responds to feral horse population surveys in 2019 that showed that feral horse numbers across the entire Australian alps over five years had doubled (from 9,817 in 2014 to 25,318 in 2019), and extensive direct observations of continuing environmental damage being caused by horses in unburnt and fire-affected areas across the Alpine National Park.  

What control methods are included in this plan and why have some been removed since the previous plan? 

Following consultation with independent veterinary and welfare experts, public consultation on the 2018 Action Plan, and subsequent feral horse management experience, Parks Victoria has determined that the following methods are the most appropriate, humane and safe ways to reduce the severe damage caused by feral horses in the Alps: trapping and rehoming (where appropriate recipients are secured); ground shooting using professional shooters; aerial shooting (for exceptional circumstances or if other methods cannot meet objectives); and fenced small-scale exclusion (for small areas). 

Parks Victoria has taken the decision to no longer use roping as a supported management technique for feral horse capture and removal. It has made this decision on the grounds that roping operations do not comply with sufficient occupational health and safety standard to ensure the safety of staff, contractors or any other participants. 

Fertility control is not being considered for horse control in Victorian parks. This is due to the large population sizes of feral horses in the Victorian Alps, difficulty in delivering the control agent effectively in the field for large numbers of uncontained and unidentified animals, the need for repeat administration to known animals, and the inability for the technique to reduce populations over the short term. 
See Section 4 of the Feral Horse Action Plan 2021 for more detail.