Sydney, March 3 : Australia's New South Wales (NSW) has shifted the method of managing the number of wild horses at Kosciuszko National Park following the culling of thousands of brumbies through aerial shooting.

The use of aerial shooting is no longer necessary, NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe told a budget estimates hearing on Monday. The wild horse population is being controlled due to fears that they are endangering certain rare and native species.

Launched in late 2021, the wild horse management initiative seeks to lower the brumbies population in the area to 3,000 by mid-2027 to safeguard the delicate mountain ecosystem and the heritage value of the brumby.

In late 2023, aerial shooting was introduced as an additional strategy to help reduce the feral horse population. Reliable estimates suggested that more than 17,000 horses remained there. Early findings from the 2024 survey, however, indicated a significant decline in horse numbers, which is currently in the range of 3,000 to 4,000.

Aerial shooting had paused for the time being in Kosciuszko National Park but could be reinstated if needed and remains in use elsewhere in NSW, Sharpe said.

Programmes focused on capturing and relocating the animals will continue as authorities explore fertility management options to prevent extreme fluctuations in the horse population, Sharpe said.

Alternative approaches to managing the horse population in the park involve ground shooting, humane capture, relocation to processing facilities, euthanasia, sedation and adoption, according to the report of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Xinhua news agency reported.

Aerial shooting was responsible for eliminating 5,969 of the feral horses, the ABC cited the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water as saying.

Emma Hurst, a representative of the Animal Justice Party, has openly opposed the use of aerial shooting, said the ABC report.

/IANS