As the National Parks and Wildlife Service defends “humane” brumby aerial culling, a ballistics expert questions the weapon choice.
An inhumane number of shots were needed to kill each animal due to the weapon used by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), a ballistics expert testified before a NSW upper house inquiry into the aerial shooting of brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park.
Atticus Fleming, acting coordinator general for environment and heritage for the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, testified before the inquiry that the NPWS successfully conducted “humane” aerial culling.
“The animal welfare outcomes delivered by our staff in that preliminary program are exceptional,” said Fleming.
The NSW government’s November report on the number of horses in Kosciuszko National Park included data from an initial aerial shooting program where “they see welfare as the most important thing.”
Three to fifteen shots were fired at each horse during the procedure, according to the report, which totaled more than 2,000 shots.
Every brumby was shot at least seven times on average.
According to Mr. Fleming, aerial shooters followed a humane standard operating procedure that involved reshooting in order to achieve “the most rapid death possible”.
“We are really going above and beyond what could reasonably be required in terms of training,” he stated.
More than 1,400 hours of aerial shooting take place in New South Wales annually, Mr. Fleming informed the inquiry, adding that this practice was “not exceptional”.
According to the inquiry, independent veterinarians confirmed the humane manner in which the shootings were carried out, and the RSCPA advised the government on optimal aerial shooting techniques.
Afterwards, though, ballistics and firearms expert Andrew Mallen told the inquiry he did not understand why aerial culling “was somehow considered humane in the report”.
“Averaging seven shots per horse across 270 animals is deplorable,” he stated.
Although NPWS’s.308 Winchester rifles proved effective in eliminating pigs and deer, Mr. Mallen stated that they were “certainly not for horses” and were insufficient for killing larger animals in a humane manner.
According to Mr. Mallen, weight and size must be taken into account when selecting which guns to use, as a brumby can weigh up to ten times as much as a large pig.
“If you go ahead with the .308 [Winchester rifle], you’re always going to have these problems with bigger animals.”
He declared that employing a weapon of a higher caliber on brumbies would “absolutely” be more humane.
Steven Coleman, the chief executive of RSPCA NSW, declined to answer a question about what ballistic expertise was taken into account when approving the NPWS’s operations.
