Brumby advocate loses bid to stop aerial culling in NSW national park - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

A brumby spotted in Pillar Valley in Yuraygir National Park.  (Supplied: Janelle Cooper)

Brumby advocate Carmen Jackson took the NSW government to court over a planned aerial cull in Yuraygir National Park.

The Land and Environment Court has ruled it was up to the government to decide how the brumbies were "removed" from the park. 

Ms Jackson still has cases pending in the courts to stop aerial culling in Kosciuszko National Park. 

A brumby advocate has lost her bid to stop the aerial culling of wild horses in a northern New South Wales national park. 

Carmen Jackson filed a last-minute injunction in the Land and Environment Court in late August to stop a planned cull of feral horses in the Yuraygir National Park (YNP), near Grafton.  

Ms Jackson said the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) did not have the "statutory authority" to carry out aerial culling in the park. 

She said the park management plan used the word "removal" to describe how brumbies would be dealt with. 

Justice Rachel Pepper today dismissed the case.

She ruled Ms Jackson had not provided enough evidence to prove aerial culling was in breach of the National Parks and Wildlife Act. 

Carmen Jackson outside NSW parliament earlier this month. (Supplied: Facebook/Australian Human Rights Heritage)

Justice Pepper appeared for a matter of minutes, saying the judgment would be published, before standing down the court. 

"Jackson bears the burden, on the balance of probabilities, of proving that the Deputy Secretary unlawfully authorised the removal and killing of the feral horses from the planning area," Justice Pepper wrote in her judgment. 

The government had said during the September hearing that the word "remove" was "very broad" and did not exclude "killing things". 

Justice Pepper ruled that the plan of management for the park, which comes under a certain section of the NPW Act, required the "removal of feral horses", but the manner in which this was carried out was "an operational matter". 

"The Secretary holds a broad discretion … to remove or eradicate feral horses," she wrote.

Justice Pepper said the secretary was "authorised, if not required, to remove horses" from the park under the National Parks Act. 

A spokesperson for NPWS said it welcomes the court's decision and would "continue to manage feral animals in accordance with its statutory responsibilities and relevant management arrangements to protect the state’s natural and cultural values". 

Advocates are trying to stop the culling of brumbies in Yuraygir National Park.  (Supplied: Janelle Cooper)

After the initial injunction was filed, the YNP pest management plan was updated before the October 1 hearing to strengthen language around pest control to include aerial culling as a method. 

NPWS can update pest management plans without ministerial approval. 

Ms Jackson says she does not agree with the court's decision, and the loss will not stop her fighting to save brumbies across the state. 

"It's [an] inhumane practice … there are other ways to remove the horses from these areas," Ms Jackson said. 

"I think the re-homers do a fantastic job so our brumbies don't get sent to the knackeries."  

Ms Jackson has filed another case against the government before Justice Sarah Pritchard in relation to aerial culling of wild horses in the Kosciuszko National Park. 

A decision is yet to be made in this case.