a male foal and his mother.
By Rhen
The Feral horse or brumby was introduced to N.S.W in 1788 and came from Europe. It was introduced as a farm animal to be ridden and raced. It’s scientific name is Equus Caballu.
A mare & her foal
Brumbies can be of any breed and colour, but they usually keep the same conformation of the brumby. They usually stand at about 14 to 15 h.h.
The brumby distributed from New South Wales, to most parts of Queensland, parts of Northern Territory, regions of Western Australia and parts of South Australia.
A foal at the lookout.
The feral horse’s habitats include semi-arid plains, rocky ranges, tropical grasslands, wetlands, temperate ranges, subalpine mountains and small offshore islands.
Feral horses cause serious environmental damage because horses have hard hooves, they create paths from repeatedly walking along in habitual routes. Feral horses cause gully erosion and they cause collapse of wildlife burrows. They foul waterholes and can introduce weeds to an area through seeds carried in their dung, manes or tails.
They can effect large areas of vegetation needed to sustain native wildlife and commercial herds of livestock.
Some methods of control are helicopter shooting by trained shooters which is considered to be the most humane way to reduce feral horse numbers over large areas. It is quick and the animals are not subject to the stresses of mustering, yarding and transportation. Helicopter shooting is very expensive , but until a more efficient and humane system of control in vast rangelands is found it remains the optimum method.
Another control measure is placing traps around drinking points. This only works if there are a limited number of water sources and those sources are required for watering of commercial stock herds.
A male foal.
Mares breed in summer and it takes approximately 11 months pregnancy. The Mares produce one foal every two years. The feral horse population increases by 20% a year.
Feral horses cause exotic diseases such as equine influenza and African horse sickness both being a serious threat to domestic horses.
The real problem is that the feral horse erodes
the soil and destroys the plant life that native animals like the wombat and bilbies eat and that has caused extinction of some animals.
Approximately- nearly exact, equal or perfect.
Conformation- configuration.
Considered- to regard as or think.
Distributed- the act of distributing.
Environmental- of or relating to an environment or environments.
Erosion- the process by which the earth’s surface has been worn out by water.
Habitats- a place where an animal or plant lives.
Humane- characterised by tenderness and compassion of distress.
Increase- to make more in number.
In habitual- to live or dwell in a place.
Mustering- to round up.
Optimum- the best point, degree or amount.
Repeatedly- the act of repeating.
Routes- a way or road taken or planned for travel.
Vegetation- the plant life of a particular region, considered as a whole.
Brumbies at the seashore.
Breeds of Livestock- Australian Brumby Horse
www.ansi. Okstate. Edu
Invasive Species- Feral Horse
www.ea. Gov. au
Feral Animals Australia
www.kidcyber. Com. Au
Invasive Mammals
www. Invasive- animals. Org. nz
NPWS- English Reports on feral horse management in national parks and reserves
www. National parks. N.S.W. gov. au
