Impacts and management of feral horses in the Australia Alps
Please read our submission on the impact and management of feral horses.
Our submission offers research information about the control of wild horse numbers in areas of biodiversity and ecological importance.
Our organization has, for many years, worked to discover the effects of keeping wild horses in a conservation area near Broome as well as studying how this is done in other countries.
The renowned Ecologist Craig Downer came to join us and examine the areas where we have protected wild horses.
The PDF submission is attached in full below.
Our organization has, for many years, worked to discover the effects of keeping wild horses in a conservation area near Broome as well as studying how this is done in other countries.
The renowned Ecologist Craig Downer came to join us and examine the areas where we have protected wild horses.
The PDF submission is attached in full below.
| submission_6_-_wild_horses_kimberley_-_submission.pdf |
An extract of his summary of two of the areas, Lake Gregory{Paruku}, and Water-bank, is attached below. Please read the full submission for details of our submission as it relates to herd size and health control, and the impacts of culling.
1. NB ;Both horses and burros possess a caecal, or post-gastric, digestive system that does not as thoroughly decompose the vegetation they ingest when compared with ruminant grazers, such as cattle or sheep, deer or elk, which comprise the vast majority of large grazers in North America today. In contrast to the ruminant digestive system, the post-gastric system allows the seeds of many plant species to pass through the digestive tract intactandreadytogerminateinasoilthatequidsrichlyfertilizebytheirdroppings. In this way, many plant species have been and continue to be successfully dispersed over large areas by wild equids. Since wild horses and burros roam over large home ranges, which themselves shift over the generations, each plant species thus dispersed is able to occupy its ecological niche over a more extensive geographical area than it would were it not for the wild equids.
2. As concerns mutualistic relations, we again note that horse faeces contain less thoroughly decomposed vegetable matter than would a ruminant’s and, for this reason, more greatly aid in building the nutrient-rich humus component of healthy soils. This leads to better water retention and nutrient levels for root absorption, and the overall well-being of the horse- or burro-inhabited ecosystem. Also the less-digested faeces majorly feed the ecological food chain, benefiting a host of organisms and species from tiny microorganisms to beetles and bugs, worms, birds, rodents, lizards, and larger animals that feed upon these
3. The fact that the horse and burro are not committed to as thoroughly decompose the plants they ingest as compared to ruminants, coupled with the fact that they spread their grazing pressure over vast areas, not camping on any one area (unless so forced by human interference with their habitat, e.g. fences, fenced off water holes, etc.) makes them the perfect reducers of dry, parched and flammable vegetation and so the perfect preventers of the catastrophic wildfires that are on the increase, especially in the West where the wild equids are found. The drying of large portions of the West due to Global Warming makes the equid role particularly critical. Again, their building of more moisture-retaining soils makes them very important in this respect, since soil moisture dampens out incipient fires and makes the air coating the earth also more moist. Horses and burros are much better equipped for this increasingly important service to all the life community, including man, than ruminant grazers, particularly domesticated ones.
4. During hot summers when water tables recede, horses and burros can detect water far off through their keen olfaction, or sense of smell. After air-borne humidity has led them to water, when necessary, they are able to dig down to adequate underground sources, or to similarly enlarge tiny seeps so that they can survive through the critical dry period of the year. This greatly benefits many other species of animals whose individual members would otherwise be unable to access water and would perish.
5. The horses’ and burros’ habit of individually wallowing in the ground creates natural water catchments when it rains. These benefit many diverse animals and plants, such as desert birds, rodents and lizards, tiny insects, tiny herbs and the seedlings of brush and tree species. This is much preferable to excavating massive catchments with life-wounding caterpillars as do government and private parties to increase water sources, especially during the critical dry periods of the year.