Brumbies have been in Australia since 1788, first brought in by British settlers for utility work, farming, recreation and racing. As time progress through popularity more where imported from England, Europe and Asia boosting numbers to 160,000 by 1850.

Brumbies otherwise known as "wild bush horses," have been a strong part of Australian history from mustering to world wars. These animals credited for keeping trails clear for bush walkers including tracks for national parks and emergency service vehicles.

Brumbies are also merited as hero’s for being soldiers of war, hard farm workers and survivors in our unforgiving outback. Current estimated population would be about 400,000 within Australia, known to have been as close to man in companionship, over the decades.

A Brumby gives birth to a new foal every 2 years on average in comparison to Mink whales that produce 1 per year after the age of 2, with an estimated population at around 1,000,000 2011.

In such times these horses were transported by sea, where a percentage would die through injuries and stress, making Australian stock practically strong and healthy in the process.

In current day cattlemen in the export market capture Brumbies via ground and helicopter shooting, mustering to trapping and placing in holding pens after capture.

Cattlemen wash them down with recovery time overnight before transport to large-scale factory slaughter houses (abattoirs), where they are stunned with a captive bolt gun and bled to death opposed in some countries.

This slaughter house transport today is commonly used with all animals’ generally conventional straight wall design that is traumatic, rather than recommended flared-wall transporters, that reduces this experience.

Our natives see Brumbies as free living horses ‘part of the land’, wishing to protect them from being slaughtered while conservationist groups, such as the Australian Conservation Foundation, favor the fact.

Australian horse meat production level was 24,000 tons by 2009, producing 500 kilos of meat per average horse. That’s 48,000 Brumbies slaughtered.

Cont..

A horse is a horse

Of course of course, but brumbies

Are feral vermin

Brett,
Been waiting 15 hours now for your continuation, so I can see what your point is and the reason for your article. Surely it is not just to inform us that we have an export horse meat market. That is common knowledge as is the pet food market.

A couple of things so far. Firstly Brumbies are only a percentage of the horse meat trade, horses generally old or unwanted make up the bulk of those slaughtered.

Some brumbies that are captured are sold are re-homed if they are suitable. Some have physical/conformation problems that render them unsuitable for private use. Inbreeding in the wild produces this problem. Remember "The man from Snowy River", his horse was 'three parts thoroughbred at least'! Just a 'touch of timor pony', so it was no Brumby.

Walers were the Australian breed of horses that served our armed forces and there were light and heavy breeds in them. They were specifically bred for this and they were not Brumbies.

Anyway it is good to see we get some commercial use for the old and unwanted animals. The Brumbies can be a problem when there numbers need culling. I see it as no different to the wild camel problem where efforts are being made to export them or their meat.

Brett:

Thanks for this thread. I looked up the "Save the Brumbies," website and your information as well as what's given on their website beggars belief. Why can't the Queensland government find alternative ways of dealing with this problem? Reports from the RSPCA state that it costs the Queensland tax payers in excess of $250,000 for helicopters, snipers and 20,000 rounds of bullets. The reports state that "it is not possible to kill animals humanely from a moving target such as helicopters. It takes an average of 4 bullets per horse, and the ages reign from foals, yearlings and adult horses. Why can't they find a better way of dealing with this continuing problem?

The horse is shot with a bolt gun then bled . How else do you slaughter an animal.

Brett, we live in "The Free Market Economy" where everything has a value. You do not place an economic value on 'Horse protein'; which many others do, that's all. I assume you do not wish to include the issues of the value 'this form of Protein' has in communities where such levels of proteins are not readily available?

Visualise, if you will, pictures of small, malnourished children: like the type used by "Aid Agencies' when they are asking for donation of money. In this light, even the Churches would line up against your Values or Ethics.

Perhaps you should go and talk with John Howard; He can probably explain it all for you.

Cont...

Statistically in Australia averagely a year for human consumption in other parts of the world, is estimated to be about 50,000 to 70,000 Brumbies. That’s about 4.7 million worldwide in total are exported horse meat to the top eight countries such as Europe, China, Japan and Russia for human consumption.

The cost per kilogram is about $4.00 overseas generating $96 million plus estimated annually to the Australian economy in exports to Japan, China, Europe, and Russia etc; in Finland a farmer gets paid €100 Euros (€0.20 cents euro a kilo) per horse locally slaughtered.

Which opens our eyes to the fact, that as a country we must sway for personal benefit? Death to Brumbies, a free living animal that’s done its duty, yet condemn another country for slaughtering another creature that’s population growth and numbers are much higher.

When Christianity was adopted in some countries, horse-eating became taboo, meaning that it is sacred and forbidden based on moral judgment.

The capturing of Brumbies for export sale as food we may feel is moral enough, as well as dealing with what some may refer to as a pest, but these animals remind us of nature’s way.

Humane is making sure this doesn’t extend to pregnant females and that wounded or dying of thirst Brumbies are also put down rather than left to suffer over the price of a bullet.

Brett J Hutton

Emotive but what else is it?
Every animal we feed on dies this way.
Except those killed by bleeding to death while alive.
ex race horses die this way too.
Here not more than hours drive from Sydney, Brumbys once killed or crippled at least one person a year, once a young bride on her way home from her great event.
They run on road sides ,the grass is better there.
Horses are not native to this country in the vwild they decline in health.
So what do we do? they do not belong running wild and unchecked, may transmit deceases.
Brumbys are usually in worse condition than we think.
Highlighting the method of death is while quite right, not answering this question is letting them rot better than harvesting a source of meat man has eaten for century's?

Brett,
Finally you got around to the second part of your article, and it is still unclear the point you are trying to make. For someone that has written a number of articles, I find this strange. I wish you would come out directly and say whether we should export horse meat or not, or maybe we should not slaughter horses at all. As a cattleman, that would suit me as the price for beef, of all sorts, would rise because the pet food industry would give increased competition.

You also seem to refer to ALL horses as Brumbies. This is not so.

Brumbies is a term used for wild horses only. By far the biggest number of horses slaughtered are domesticatd horses. This then puts your figures all out of whack. You need more research here.

Lexi,
I haven't read the 'save the Brumbies' website and don't intend to as these types of bodies tend to spin the facts to favour their agenda. But i would not be surprised if shot Brumbies are left to rot in Queensland. I hate waste and if they can be trapped in portable stockyards that would be my choice if possible. Don't know if the Qld gov has looked at this or not. In NSW I can get a permit to shoot roos, if I can prove they are in unreasonable numbers, on which a certain number is specified. However they must be tagged and left to rot and breed flies. I cannot use, or take, any part. So shooting of Brumbies and leaving the carcases would not surprise me.

Banjo:

I don't know much on this topic. However, the following website was the one I used:

http://www.savethebrumbies.org/2010/03/01/shocking-aerial-slaughter/

Brett,

" . . horse-eating became taboo, meaning that it is sacred and forbidden based on moral judgment."

Can you prove this claim? I've not heard it made in my (almost) 60 years! I suspect it is more likely to be an emotive Statement or claim made in support of a Cause; and untrue. I know of no such 'cultural change' associated with Christianity.

clarky

Food taboos can be defined as a codified set of rules about which foods or combination's of foods may not be eaten and how animals are to be slaughtered.

The origin of these prohibitions and commandments is varied.

In some cases, these taboos are a result of health considerations or other practical reasons. In others, they are a result of human symbolic systems. Some foods may be prohibited during certain festivals (e.g. Lent), at certain times of life (e.g. pregnancy), or to certain classes of people (e.g. priests), although the food is in general permissible

It is a taboo food in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, the US, English Canada and in Australia; it is also taboo amongst the Romani people and in Brazil and India.

Horse meat is not generally eaten in Spain, although the country exports horses both "on the hoof and on the hook" (i.e., live animals and slaughtered meat) for the French and Italian market; however, horse meat is consumed in some Latin American countries such as Mexico.

It is illegal in some countries. In Tonga horse meat is eaten nationally, and Tongan emigrees living in Utah have retained the taste for it, claiming Christian missionaries originally introduced it to them.

In many Muslim countries today, horse meat is considered makruh, meaning it is not forbidden, but strongly discouraged. One reason given for its prohibition is the need for horses in military and other uses, and as such, considering the decline in use of horses for such purposes, some consider its consumption permissible.

Horse meat is eaten in some Muslim Central Asian countries with a tradition of nomadic pastoralism, e.g., Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. In other majority-Muslim countries there have been many instances, especially wars and famine, when horses were slaughtered and eaten.
In the past, horse has been eaten by Persians, Turks, some hanafi Egyptians, and Tatars; but it has never been eaten in the Maghreb.

Cont.

Cont..

Horse meat is forbidden by Jewish dietary laws because horses do not have cloven hooves and they are not ruminants. It has been suggested that this holds a practical purpose as horses were used as a means of transportation and did work, although this is doubtful due to the lack of the horse collar at the time of the formation of these laws.

In the eighth century, Popes Gregory III and Zachary instructed Saint Boniface, missionary to the Germans, to forbid the eating of horse meat to those he converted, due to its association with Germanic pagan ceremonies.

The people of Iceland allegedly expressed reluctance to embrace Christianity for some time, largely over the issue of giving up horse meat.

In the end, the eating of horse meat was a concession granted in perpetuity when the pagan Norse Icelanders eventually adopted Christianity en masse in the year 1000 (although, in fact, the Church reversed its position soon afterwards).

Horse meat is now currently consumed in Iceland and many horses are raised for this purpose. The culturally close people of Sweden still have an ambivalent attitude to horse meat, said to stem from this time.

Brett,

So precisely what is your point? Would you prefer to see control through the poison 1080? Regrettably keyboard conservationists promote the use of 1080 through their efforts to stop humane culling by shooting.
1080 Poison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJSvAe8SXw&feature=related

Keyboard greens can revel in their emotion, ignorant of the damage done by brumbies to sensitive environments and to farms and the obvious risk as a carrier for dreadful parasites such as screw worm fly that could destroy our meat inductry and cause untold suffering to stock.
Screw worm fly,
http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/pests-diseases-weeds/animal/screw-worm-fly

Recreational hunters as licensed by bodies like NSW's Game Council could do the job in a continuous fashion for free, with farmers still free to muster as many as they wish.
NSW Game Council,
http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/portal.asp?p=Ferals1

The other very real economic benefit of licensed, government regulated recreational hunting as a control is the substantial new trade for country towns from hunters for accommodation, food and fuel.
Conservation Hunting and its role in game and feral animal management,
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/wild/report/c19.htm

Keep poking other first world countries via their prupose of research
kangaroos wont be the only export market droppping out!

Export of meat of all type could go, import of tourism will keep dropping there are other nicer but littler reefs in the world..

Keep your boots in your on your own land, we are a second class first world country not first class first world meaning end of the day support is not in your favour with the big guns and maturity goes a long way..

Posted by Shintaro, Australia see these animals as are feral vermin

Posted by Banjo, A couple of things so far. Firstly Brumbies are only a percentage of the horse meat trade, horses generally old or unwanted make up the bulk of those slaughtered.

Support for Culling and left to root yet slaughter house government exportation program of horse meat for profit, refereed as not wasting what is killed reminds us of what is done with waste from research in relation to other sectors of other countries.

If they are vermin then why are we exporting un-healthy meat to other countries? So other counties deserve to pay high prices for less the adequate meat.

.20 euro = 0.2626 AUD sounds more like what we should be charging overseas per kilo for VERMIN..

Brett we almost came to war here in OLO a few years ago over animal welfare.
Your passion is noted so is your emotional response.
But why not cattle, sheep, dog meat if you wish.
You undermine your case by saying it is taboo, if no market existed, clearly it does, you would not have a thread subject.
Heard of a glue factory? millions of horse have gone that way, once via bone meal factory's too.
Every thing that lives dies, we use meat,it can be traced back as one reason we became modern man, the protein was part of our journey out of the trees.
And have you lived on a farm? wild horse, romantic as they are are often stunted and in poor nick, many put good blood back by letting others go with them, and harvest like every other animal we use or eat the results.
I understand your concerns, have put my arm for the last time over much loved horses before they went to the dog food industry, but that is just the reality we face .

Wikipedia

Quoted verbatim is not

Honest argument

Thank you belly good comments.

Horses though are be exported for meat for human consumption which maybe not wise as they probly should be for animals.

Brumbies these are introduced by us, nurtured by us, maintained and made use of for work and colleagues in our every day life’s since settlement.

As an icon of Australia we have a responsibility to look after them as they have done for us. .

These are not natures food these are pets that have done their time and allowed to run as nature intended them to be free.

So what's it like eating at the same level as your pets?...

At the beginning of the 20th century, pre-packaged pet foods were also available in the U.S. Initially they consisted primarily of dry cereals, but after World War I, dog food made of canned horse meat was available.

Brumbies are not pets

They bred in the bush where they

Trample ecosystems

It is a very great pity that the federal and state governments underrate the economic value of a whole range of animals (eg., pigs, goats, deer, horses, camels) by declaring them as feral 'pests' to be eradicated, usually by paid government contractors.

Government eradication campaigns often use the terrible poison 1080 and result in the complete wastage of the animals, many of which can be harvested for their free range, pesticide free meat or for their skins (eg foxes and rabbits).

What short-sighted government regards as a 'pest' can be a very valuable resource where conservation management is applied, as it easily can be. To take a very obvious example, each year State governments fork out millions for contractors to dumps tons of poisoned carrots from helicopters to kill deer. The deer, along with non-target species die painfully and slowly in the bush, their bodies reduced by blowflies.

Yet the deer are worth millions as organic meat and the recreational hunting tourism could contribute many millions to small country towns that are struggling and will eventually disappear from the map. We will probably learn too late from European and North American experience of the economic and environmental benefits of conservation hunting. What shouldn't a properly trained and licensed hunter harvest venison for the deep freeze? They go through strict licensing and pay large taxes to government for their pastime.

Unfortunately the main opposition to change comes from the naive emotional appeals ('icons', 'pets') made in this thread, that originate from an irrational, romantic, Disney view of nature. What is even more regrettable, is that the blocking of change by such 'wildlife warriors' makes the 1080 chopper flights and the 'Nam like culling from the air inevitable as control measures.

Sorry Cornflower and for that matter Brett.
First Deer only became Ferrel in numbers recently.
Yes they have run in Sydney's national park, for a century but a failed Deer meat market saw trendys let them go.
Just 20 klms north of Newcastle on our national highway they run free, on the roadside and in farms making problems .
Not unlike those horses bad, horrible, smashes happen on that road caused by both.
Brumbys, well the Walers , Australia's best stock horse was freed in the bush long ago.
But so too are some of the worst inter breed types you ever could find.
Those who harvest the off spring go further than putting good mares out to run with them, or a very good stallion.
Worming blocks and feed in hard times too.
NO none native animals can be supported to run free.
A basic of conservation is clear.
This country is not natural horse country ,the herd near me runs in Forrest lands almost free of grasses.
And until fencing got better invaded farms every night.
You will find even draft horses in these scrubbers, some dreamers buy a horse and can not keep it they end up some times in great pain out in the herd ,a rough life for a city bred older horse.

Belly,

Coming from the land I lean your way. However conservation hunting will keep the numbers down. It makes sound environmental and economic sense, as well as being infinitely preferable for humane reasons. As applies in so many other countries, there is nothing dreadful about game consumption and Chital venison is rather tasty with pine nuts, a red wine sauce and baked sweet potato. No added growth hormones either.

I am not talking about penned stock but free range, wild. The government lands are where numbers become excessive and recreational hunting would be ideal, but is banned outside of NSW (Game Council in place and working successfully). I would add that government land, especially the inviolate reserves is usually overgrown with exotic plants such as Lantana and prickly pear as well. All down to the rigidity of zealous, but impractical, 'experts' with new environmental degrees whose first solution is to keep people out.

BTW, it wouldn't worry me if brumby was harvested by recreational hunters for home consumption or for pet food. The United States Department of Agriculture promotes the eating of horse and goat meats which are low in fat. I read somewhere that the US is the number one exporter of horse meat. You are right about the destructiveness of horses on Australian soils and particularly alpine areas. My main interest is in reducing the numbers in case of entry of exotic pests and diseases.

After re-reading all of Brett's posts again, it is obvious that he has not got a clue about Brumbies, or he is deliberatly spinning misinformation. No ammount of rational and practical information will alter his perceived concepts, which are incorrect.

As stated before I support the capture and slaughter of brumbies when and where they need to be culled or eliminated. whether the meat is exported or not is illrelivent. As also stated, some of the better types may be sold to willing private buyers after capture.

Brett simply plays the emotional card, because it suits his agenda

The answer is simple.....WHAT does not belong here...do with as you please....and make a buck if you can.

Now if more people had accesses to gun lic's...( now I wish I had not handed mine in ) maybe the feral problem would be such a......can you fill in the rest of the form?:)

If I could only market CaneToads.

BLUE

With one of these...a good shot can take the tick right of the nose of anything:)

http://tinyurl.com/24nmwtf

This was in my early years of life......now I just sit on the fence of life.

Its all commonsense.....

BLU

Green.Is now the thinking's...and well with some understanding like this thread.....guns for the smart and well balanced can help this situation. Are these horses helping our wild-life? if not...you know what to do.

Bang!

BLUE

Cornflower I support conservation hunting, always and firmly.
But let us not kid our selves.
Some , maybe not the official shooters groups, bought big problems and still do.
PIG hunters bring them to areas they do not exist in then release them for future sport, at the expense of the environment.
I have seen responsible sporting shooters fight this practice.
Those Brumbys herds,horses running wild and free,those who improve the blood lines then harvest are farmers too.
Some end up being ridden others are dog meat, few would pass export rules.
Conservation shooters can and do reduce numbers but not eradicate, it is not in their interests to do that.
I know of no Ferrel animal. in any country, that has acclimatised without damage to its new environment.
Far worse than any are cats foxes and dogs gone wild,what a difference this country would find without them.

Belly,

You don't have to transport pigs to different areas, they spread widely after being set free for meat by early explorers. As for pig hunters spreading pigs that is more a myth than anything. The only case we ever heard of was a fellow who allegedly trapped and castrated young pigs, hoping to return later to shoot the barrows for food. What a waste of time.

You are right though to say that the hunting organisations are ethical and conservation minded - but always to Australia's environment first. Their lobbying is why some coastal salt water lagoons exist, when for years Councils had a program of draining them (and still do).

Belly, "Conservation shooters can and do reduce numbers but not eradicate, it is not in their interests to do that."

The fearful 1080 program doesn't eradicate either and it can affect non target species. Government contractors with helicopters are expensive and necessary because there isn't recreational shooting as there was years ago.

As for (say) deer, even if we had a magic wand to eradicate them would it be smart to do so? I think not because conservation management means smaller herds, no appreciable environmental effect, another source of income for small country towns and chemical free meat who those who are prepared to complete the onerous licensing requirements.

The red deer on Queensland's coat of arms is partly (deer have heraldic meanings) a reminder of Queen Victoria's gift of deer from the royal hunting ground, no less. Let us eat the Royal venison if Major Anna Bligh will allow us to do what Queens Victoria wanted us to do - instead of poisoning the herds with 1080.

What AU needs to do is put some roo in the stew.
It should be a butcher shop commodity.
If it weren't for road kill we would be overrun.
The Brumby need to be controlled, and so do ferrel pigs. Wholesale disaster will be caused by the bush pig one day.
Beef meat is getting beyond the average butchers stock list, there needs to be an alternate supply.

As we know brumbies are not destructive in the ways of damaging assets, they roll in and rummage around like any other of natures animals through bins etc then roll out as one not long after.

I have viewed this while visiting an aborigines community for a week, not harm or damage was done they stuck around for not more than 20-30mins.

Thank you for pointing out Cornflower “However conservation hunting will keep the numbers down. It makes sound environmental and economic sense, as well as being infinitely preferable for humane reasons”.

Let’s look at this from another angle – The Solution

Firstly we establish as a species what is for human consumption and what’s not, this is determined culturally in each country according to moral judgement of what’s acceptable in our lands.

If numbers was the problem and our purpose of what we are doing is for environmental and economical sense would it not be more logical to not slaughter them but inhibit their breeding abilities to an extent that such animals stay within an acceptable limits.

So far we have established that we use anywhere up to four bullets per kill, we have established that kangaroos is a market that is or will bottom out and we have established that this problem is only a problem because the right measures were not in place to control.

So the answer is a simple one –

1. Rather than bullets we use tranquilizer cartridges that are reusable saving the continual cost of bullets and transport.

2. Rather than slaughter them, we ring the males so they cannot produce and/or bring the female population down via separation or targeting direct.

3. Make use of them via donating them to camps and other organisations for the purpose of entertainment of other. (Breaking-in for riding).

BrettH, "As we know brumbies are not destructive in the ways of damaging assets.."

Absolute rot, haven't you been keeping up with the frank comment given here, or referred to a DPI site? Think about such obvious serious problems as damage to soils near watercourses (hooves) and pollution of the water (manure). Imagine erosion caused by trampled paths through forest. You are paying attention?

BrettH, "Firstly we establish as a species what is for human consumption and what’s not.."

The market already does that and with the changes in Australia's demographics and eating habits doubtless there are many more who would try lean, nutritious, free range horse meat if given the chance. They eat crocs don't they?

Besides, there is an export market.

BrettH, "So far we have established that we use anywhere up to four bullets per kill.."

Horses' apples, make that one bullet. Hop on your bike and have a Bo Peep at the roos hanging on the back of the fourbys for the freezer truck and you will see that they are all head shot. That is the formal requirement. Now you might also have noticed that a horse's brain box is a damn sight bigger than a roo's and that is where the .308 will go for a quick, certain death.

The rest of your comments are exasperating garbage as well. Honestly Brett, where do you get this stuff from? To take another example, although I realise I am wasting my time, have you considered that the 'control' methods you suggest are more traumatic for the horses than shooting and the cost would be exorbitant. It would also be ridiculously futile, as anyone who has chased brumbies into high country would know.

Say, you wouldn't have relatives in a veterinary practice who are short of a bit of business by any chance? Because it sounds as though you want to make vets rich, taxpayers poor and have thousands of brumbies destroying the bush and watercourses.

Actually, horse meat sounds like quite good nosh, so it is a pity to use it as pet food,

"The Merits of Horse Meat
It’s splendidly healthy, with half the fat of beef and ten times the chloresterol busting Omega 3s. It’s said to taste similar to beef, our national dish.

It’s free from bird flu, mad cow disease, tuberculosis, foot-and-mouth and tape worm, the scourge of our traditional meat industry. And apparently Gordon Ramsey wants us to eat it."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1551693/The-merits-of-horse-meat.html

The Italians use horse meat in sausages. It is a low fat replacement for any other meat, so no special recipes are required. I would think a marinade would make it more moist on the BBQ.

Cornflower,
You are right in that you are wasting your time.

The title of this thread tells you all you need to know of Brett's mind set and his agenda. An attempt to get to peoples emotions!

He who kills for sport

Is the problem with hunting

Not eating horse meat

Banjo,

Agreed.

It comes as no surprise that the naive and emotional appeals of the 'animal rights' activists are seen as the main blockage against effective management. There is consensus from Government, the RSPCA, formally qualified environmentalists and farmers that culling of ferals is crucial to protecting the environment.

There is a similar problem in Northern Queensland where wild pig numbers are decimating turtle populations, with attempts at management being frustrated by 'animal rights' and 'animal liberation' activists. There is no surprise in finding the same activists popping up all over Australia and on on unrelated issues.

Kangaroos move slower and large rats they only need one bullet, horses move faster than a horse race and hitting them first time takes effort cornflower...

Obviously you’s have never been out of the suburbs because everyone knows water holes and rivers are full of live and even in the most remote area there are any where upto 50 tracks around and leading to water holes.

Horses don’t make any more damage than any other of natures creatures...

Ever heard of receptive selling, you lot a weak and fall prey to media and gov on a regular bases. nothing comes for free you as taxpayers pay for everything as time comes along in other ways...

Play it down, live in ego worlds that what you are told is correct, selling comes with hype as its used to sell all over the world for getting people to fall in alignment.

Making these horses a percentage infertile is the only way and the right way.

Barbarians.

If we ever get suck on an island I would cook and eat you without a second thought within a week, just like you eat pets and decedents of loyal soldiers

You taste like Beef, and cooked well would make a good dish..

The health department could say you to would just nutrition and acceptable health requirements..

Acceptable Limits is what they pass..

Not sure what is worse

People who enjoy killing

Or emotive fools

Shintaro,

Heh, heh, are you still hanging from the horse's tail desperate to get noticed? Here you go dear,

"It is better to keep silent than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt." Socrates

We kill when we must

For food, defense and nature

But not for pleasure

Come on, Brett:

"Making these horses a percentage infertile is the only way and the right way.

Barbarians.

If we ever get suck on an island I would cook and eat you without a second thought within a week, just like you eat pets and decedents of loyal soldiers"

The 'decedents [sic] of loyal soldiers' part is a bit rich. And who's to say that, by eating the poster for whom this attack was intended, you wouldn't be eating the descendant of a loyal soldier?

Interestingly, that's far more likely than your assertion that eating brumbies is eating the descendants of loyal soldiers. I had thought your assertion was a bit odd, having learnt at uni that our soldiers left the horses behind when they came back from war. http://www.walerhorse.com/whsa/ backs me and my lecturers up on that. It seems to me, then, that by eating brumbies we would simply be eating the descendants of shady draft dodgers (to retain your emotive colour).

As for your question about vermin and unhealthy meat, you (the expert on meat and eating habits) should understand that 'vermin' doesn't mean 'unhealthy'. It simply means 'pest'. Rabbits - healthy or otherwise - are vermin in this country. So are brumbies.

Australian horse meat production level was 24,000 tons, producing 500 kilos of meat per average horse. That’s 48,000 Brumbies slaughtered.

Statistically in Australia averagely a year for human consumption in other parts of the world, is estimated to be about 50,000 to 70,000 Brumbies. That’s about 4.7 million worldwide in total are exported horse meat to the top eight countries such as Europe, China, Japan and Russia for human consumption......and problem is what? Its win,win,win all around. The first priority is to the Australian Environment and as you'll see in this link ( to which I disagree to ).

http://tinyurl.com/239ht5u

Well, Ive never been confused on what the differences are between humans and pests, however both seem to have much in common.

The sporting community is also one that employs many people for its rights to go about their business just like anyone else, in-fact doing the Australian people a favour by doing a job which many feel disgust for.

http://tinyurl.com/2fbg3oo and full of disease.

If you don't like what men do for a sport.....go and bake a cake or something:)


BLUE

Australia never had, never will have 48.000 Brumbys.
Brett it is true those horses never came back from the middle east.
Quarantine laws would not allow it.
And your idea they would be soldiers is weird stuff.
Emotions drive animal welfare people,we have seen time and again this issue bring trouble as positions firmed on both sides.
It is true few of us are not concerned at cruelty to animals.
This thread however is a beat up, your cause is not benefiting from it.
Most horse meat is from weekly dogger sales, that is horses mostly bound for dog meat.
I have both bought and saved good horses there and sold bad ones ,today about 90 will be sold in the nearest to me.

Right O! Who messed with my post? or was it a little too graphic?..:) The link was the "little piggy that didn't make it home"....which was to show how one quick shot can kill out-right. ( Humans do much worst to each other than hunters of these pests ever will )

The following is a list of animals that are of most concern to Australia's native flora and fauna.

* Cane toad (Bufo marinus)
* European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
* European red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
* Feral camel (Camelus dromedarius)
* Feral cat (Felis catus)
* Feral goat (Capra hircus)
* Feral horse (Equus caballus) and Feral donkey (Equus asinus)
* Feral pig (Sus scrofa)
* Feral water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

http://tinyurl.com/27audu3

Again! BANG!

Its the only way it serves all.

BLUE

Origin of feral herds


Horses were likely confined primarily to the Sydney region until the early 19th century, when settlers first crossed the Blue Mountains and opened expansion inland. Horses were required for travel, and for cattle and sheep droving as the pastoral industry grew. The first report of an escaped horse is in 1804, and by the 1840s some horses had escaped from settled regions of Australia. It is likely that some escaped because fences were not properly installed, when fences existed at all, but it is believed that most Australian horses became feral because they were released into the wild and left to fend for themselves. This may have been the result of pastoralists abandoning their settlements, and thus their horses, due to the arid conditions and unfamiliar land that combined to make farming in Australia especially difficult. After World War I, the demand for horses by defence forces declined with the growth in mechanization, which led to a growth in the number of unwanted animals that were often set free. Throughout the 20th century, the replacement of horses with machines in farming led to further falls in demand, and therefore may have also contributed to increases in feral populations.

Currently, Australia has at least 400,000 individuals estimated to be roaming the continent. It is also estimated that, during periods of non-drought, the feral horse population increases at a rate of 20% per year. Despite being so populous, feral horses are generally considered to be only a moderate pest.

Ummmm...belly...I did say approximately:)

BLUE

Baker goes postal

Cakes and pies everywhere

Hunter fires bullets

Stop nit picking, your information comes from media my information comes from Gov and export.

You’re a country driven from media ‘what you read is what you believe’ try actual research for a change.

As for horses these were imported to Australia first and then war ect.. not all horses are for war in the past they were for everything. As stated in article post p1 and p2.

They have served us well on many occasions and we thank them for that by letting them fun free.

What this comes down to is this question –

Do you want to risk all meat exportation, in exchange to make a few bucks not on horse meat?

The fact is that cattlemen can benefit by exporting other meat that is design naturally for eating more with a bigger return, horse meat is a short term thing that when bottoms out like kangaroos will destroy your meat exporting why?

Simple when these countries determine that horse meat is not the best choice for their people, you can forget any further exporting of other meat to those coutries.

Brett with respect I think it is time to leave the thread.
As a conservationist I think no non native animal should be set free.
And you not us,need to understand Ferrel animals threaten our meat exports,if disease comes it will be them that spreads it.
The view horses do not bring damage is untrue, like Camels they break fences foul water and are carriers of every thing from worms to what ever is going around.
Now not just here, but at least in America wild horses are being farmed, running free but added to and harvested , if that stops?
If we stopped it by law soon no Brumbys would run at all.

Here is some important info about the delicious good old horse.

http://tinyurl.com/45fbr2x

http://tinyurl.com/49wz5vt

In the late paleolithic (Magdalenian) wild horses formed an important source of food. In pre-Christian times, horse meat was eaten in northern Europe as part of Teutonic religious ceremonies, particularly those associated with the worship of Odin. According to legend, the French taste for horse meat dates from the Battle of Eylau in 1807, when the surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larry, advised the starving troops to eat the flesh of dead battlefield horses.

http://tinyurl.com/25za5n3

I just might gallop into my nearest Perth butcher shop:)

I think BrettH really loves horses myself.....Its just his way:)

BLUE