BRUMBY POPULATION COUNTS FLAWED

The press is finally starting to pick up on the fact that population estimates for wild horses in the KNP are NOT backed by science, as a matter of fact, the numbers were denied a peer review by the University that developed the software used – yet the Government of NSW pressed ahead with what is being described as a Brumby Bloodbath.

Below you’ll find an excerpt from “about regional” and then a bit further down VIDEO  of testimony presented to the Government of NSW by a biostatistician with 25 years experience, Ms Claire Galea.

Ms Galea agrees with Rocky Harvey and the recent high tech aerial count – that the number of Brumbies in the KNP is FAR less than the government claims.

PLEASE NOTE:  Government legislation requires 3,000 horses are to be left in the park.

In October 2023, the NSW government’s “distance sampling” method yielded a startling range of 12,797 to 21,760 wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park.

This immense discrepancy raises serious questions about the data’s validity and the justification for the current cull.

Would such a vast margin of error be tolerated in other scientific fields?

Wouldn’t the researchers be ridiculed for such uncertainty?

This lack of precision casts a shadow over the entire population count and the cull’s legitimacy.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, this “cull” has the potential to be a senseless eradication of Brumbies.

A crowdfunded high-tech independent survey in northern KNP will also come under the spotlight at next week’s Senate inquiry, with initial results indicating horse numbers are vastly lower than State Government estimates.

The public portal went live last week with only 236 horses, or 1.113 horses per square kilometre, manually counted in the 212 sq km Northern Kosciuszko survey area.

The organiser of the private count, Rocky Harvey, said the official NPWS 2023 Wild Horse Population Survey stated that between 3315 and 5121 horses should be present in the area.

“But we can see quite clearly on this imagery it’s impossible to hide the additional, say, 3000 to 5000 horses, and we’re very likely looking at a population overestimate of more than 90 per cent,” he said.

People are invited to view the images captured by fixed-wing aircraft on 25 February in this initial survey, with another survey area proposed.

In the video above, Claire Galea, and independent biostatistician with 25 years experience, explains how the current "cull" is based on numbers that are inaccurate.

Within 5 minutes you'll see just how flawed.

The designer (University of St Andrews) of the software -- that was used to come up with the extreme numbers of wild horses -- refused to peer review Stuart Cairns’ numbers.

PLEASE NOTE:  Government legislation requires 3,000 horses are to be left in the park.

A wild horse has the same capacity to feel pain and fear as a native animal, and their lives deserve the same level of dignity and respect.

We need to find a way to protect the native animals at risk, without hunting down Brumbies with helicopters, ground shooting or hauling them to be slaughtered at knackeries.

We urge you to join us in demanding the NSW government stop this cruel cull and adopt humane, non-lethal solutions.