Brumbies threaten the Australian environment

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Transcript

28/11/01

Brumbies threaten the Australian environment

 

Banjo Paterson's beloved brumbies are the stuff of national legend. For

generations, bands of wild horses have roamed free throughout Australia's

national parks. Behind the romance though, lies a harsh reality.

 

Australia's fragile environment simply cannot cope with large numbers of

brumbies, authorities argue they often have no choice but to destroy the

horses. Brumby enthusiasts argue there is another way.

 

In Queensland, a group of American horse tamers has been training both

Australians and brumbies in the art of horse gentling. They hope it will

eventually lead to Australians adopting brumbies as domestic horses.

 

Simon Royal reports.

 

JERRY TINDELL, HORSE TRAINER: He's almost ready for the touch. From here you

just offer your hand. Now it has to be from the horse's point of view.

 

SIMON ROYAL: It's the tantalising first touch. The point where a brumby

comes in from the wild.

 

JERRY TINDALL: Yeah, now keep my hand quiet, my hand, my fingers are down.

 

SIMON ROYAL: For both Jerry Tindell, a veteran horse trainer with 40 years

experience and 17-year-old novice Rashad Oberlander, it's a magic moment.

 

JERRY TINDALL: Oh geez, there's nothing like it. Look at this. See, it's not

just for me, it's for him.

 

What, you know, it fascinates me to help these horses, but when I can help

the people, there's nothing like it.

 

RASHAD OBERLANDER, BRUMBY ENTHUSIAST: Yeah, it was a real thrill, you know.

It's a wild animal and then, you know, when you get down to it and you start

working with it and you know, the reward comes when you can touch it and you

can feel that face.

 

SIMON ROYAL: Fresh from taming prairie mustangs, Jerry Tindell and five

other Americans have come to Queensland to turn their hands to Australia's

wild horse, the brumby.

 

Their technique is called gentling. They are horse gentlers. The rest of the

world, though, knows Jerry and his colleagues by another name. Are you a

horse whisperer?

 

JERRY TINDALL: No sir, I talk normal. See, a horse whisperer, in our

country, if you had asked someone that they'd say, (Whispers) " You have to

talk real slow. "

 

You see, they don't understand what a horse whisperer is, it's just kind of

a title.

 

If you used it in its proper context and you knew what it meant, it would be

just a communicator, it would be someone that knew horses and could read

horses and could fix them and to adjust them and -

 

SIMON ROYAL: Are you a horse communicator then?

 

JERRY TINDALL: Yes sir, I am. I've learnt how to be a lot like the horse.

Now this'll work for everybody that has the desire.

 

SIMON ROYAL: Over the next few days, 17 brumbies, rough diamonds from the

Queensland bush will be gently polished and eventually go to new owners.

 

They're the first in an ambitious quest by Brumby Watch Australia, a group

devoted to the horse's welfare. Brumby Watch members are being trained as

horse gentlers.

 

The plan then - to gentle as many brumbies as possible and find them new

homes.

 

DAVID GILLETT, BRUMBY WATCH AUSTRALIA: I hope there would be a home for

every brumby in Australia.

 

Australians need to open up to the idea of the brumby being a riding horse,

something that they can own. I mean, Australians also need to open up to the

idea that brumbies have a special place in Australia's hearts.

 

They're not like cattle or sheep, they're like our cats and our dogs.

 

SIMON ROYAL: There's an undeniable romance to the brumby. Banjo Paterson and

the nation's filmmakers have seen to that.

 

DAVID GILLETT: I mean The Man From Snowy River is - every child knows the

poem, everyone's seen the film and I mean, the story is about these wild

horses, you know, it's a part of our folklore and, I mean, imagine a world

without wild horses.

 

TONY ENGLISH, SYDNEY UNIVERSITY: You can't deal with the wild horse issue

without getting involved in these romantic issues and I understand that, I'm

equally guilty of it.

 

SIMON ROYAL: A place in folklore is one thing, the place of brumbies,

particularly in sensitive national parks, is something else.

 

TONY ENGLISH: There's a very real impact on the vegetation, on soil, they

cause erosion at river crossings and compete with native fauna, compete with

livestock, spread weeds.

 

It's not difficult to define the range of impacts that they have SIMON

ROYAL: The debate came to an ugly head in NSW late last year.

 

Hundreds of brumbies were shot in an aerial culling campaign in Guy Fawkes

National Park. Such was the outrage the State Government banned aerial

culling.

 

Other States continue to allow the practice. Dr Tony English from Sydney

University investigated the Guy Fawkes cull and believes it was justified.

 

With at least 300,000 brumbies still roaming around Australia, Dr English

says they're a big problem.

 

TONY ENGLISH: I think horse lovers generally would rather see all these

horses rehomed in a nice green paddock somewhere and so would I if it was

possible.

 

In an ideal world it would be possible. We don't live in an ideal world.

 

Many of these horses are in National Parks, which have functions that are

contrary to the interests of those horses, and so the horses have to go.

 

DAVID GILLETT: The brumby does hold a special place in people's hearts, and

there are a couple of National Parks where we think that brumbies should be

allowed to remain such as Kosciuszko and Guy Fawkes purely for historical

reasons.

 

SIMON ROYAL: There's no simple answer and probably never will be to brumbies

in national parks. No guarantees, either, of how many can be relocated.

 

What Jerry Tindell has shown, though, is the rugged little brumby can move

out of folklore and the parks into new homes. Three days ago, this was the

little colt Jerry and Rashad could hardly touch.

 

Now he has one last journey before him - a trip to Victoria.

 

SONJA OBERLANDER, BRUMBY ENTHUSIAST: Well, he's going to come home with us.

We fell in love with him.

 

He's just got a very special nature and I couldn't go without him.

 

SIMON ROYAL: Rashad when did you decide you wanted him?

 

RASHAD OBERLANDER: Oh, it was definitely at the beginning when I made first

contact with him. It was a really special moment for me.

 

DAVID GILLETT: I hope the Australians will change their attitude to the

brumby and I'm going to go home with a good feeling.

 

 

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