Feral Horse

FERAL HORSE (EQUUS CABALLUS)
AND FERAL DONKEY (EQUUS

ASINUS)
Australia has an estimated 400000 feral horses and millions of feral donkeys, mainly in central and
northern Australia. Both species cause erosion, spread weeds and compete for pasture with native
animals and livestock. Feral horses pose a particularly complex management problem because they can
have economic and cultural value, and debate continues about the best way to manage their populations
in Australia.
History
Horses arrived with the First Fleet in 1788.
Shipments of working farm horses followed, and
the first record of horses either escaping into the
bush or being abandoned was in 1804. Much of
the country was initially grazed without fences,
so escape was common. As machines gradually
replaced horses in a range of tasks, many horses
were released to join the already established feral
herds.
Donkeys arrived in Australia in 1866 to serve as
pack animals and in haulage teams. They were
particularly useful in the Kimberley, Western
Australia and in Victoria River in the Northern
Territory, where a toxic plant affected horses.
Motorised transport replaced donkeys throughout
the early 1900s, and feral herds were first reported
in the 1920s. By 1949 the donkey was sufficiently
numerous to be declared a pest in Western
Australia.
environment.gov.au
Most of the estimated 400000 feral horses occur

in the extensive cattle production areas of the
Northern Territory, Queensland and some parts of
Western Australia and South Australia. Scattered
populations are also found in New South Wales
and Victoria, mainly in alpine and sub-alpine areas.
Australia also has as many as five million feral
donkeys in arid central Australia, the Kimberley in
Western Australia and the Top End in the Northern
Territory.
Distribution of feral horses in Australia
Distribution of feral horses in Australia. Adapted from: Clarke GM et al (2000). Environmental Pest Species in Australia.
Internal report, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra.
Ecology
Feral horses inhabit a variety of country: semiarid
plains and rocky ranges, tropical grasslands and
wetlands, temperate ranges, subalpine forests and
small offshore islands. They prefer grassland and
shrubland with plentiful water and pasture. Feral
donkeys prefer tropical savannas and arid hill country.
Drought and severe bushfires are the only significant
natural threats to feral horses and donkeys. Left
unmanaged it is estimated that populations will
increase at a rate of 20 per cent per year.
environment.gov.au
Feral horses and donkeys form small social units

of either a dominant stallion accompanying one
to three mares and their offspring, or a bachelor
group. The groups of mares, offspring and a
stallion favour areas near permanent water and
have loose territories, while bachelor groups range
more widely. Home ranges can be up to 88 square
kilometres in the central Australian ranges.
Donkeys eat coarser vegetation than horses. Both

species generally drink regularly, although donkeys
can survive in areas without surface water. Both
can travel further than cattle to water.
Feral horses breed in spring to summer and have
a gestation period of about 11 months. They can
produce one foal every two years. Feral donkeys
produce one foal a year if conditions are favourable.
Impact
Feral horses and donkeys are serious
environmental pests, causing erosion and
damaging vegetation with their hard hoofs. They
damage and foul waterholes, and introduce weeds
through seeds carried in their dung, manes and
tails. Feral horses and donkeys may also compete
for food and water with native animals.
In central Australia, feral horses overgraze large
areas because they can travel up to 50kilometres
from water in search of food. This can force native
wildlife from its favoured habitats. The impact of
feral horses and donkeys on native grasses, herbs,
shrubs and drinkable water is most pronounced
during drought. They can quickly degrade areas
close to remote waterholes and natural springs,
which during a drought become refuges critical
to the survival of many native animals and plants.
Without these refuges, native plants and animals
may become locally extinct.
Feral horses and donkeys also have an impact
on the productivity of farming land. Feral horses
eat pasture grasses, destroy fences, and during
a muster can cause cattle to scatter. They can
carry exotic diseases such as equine influenza and
African horse sickness, which are serious threats
to domestic horses. They can also carry tick fever,
which can infect domestic horses and cattle.
environment.gov.au
Control
Drought has a severe impact on feral horses: old
horses, juveniles and mares with young are the
most vulnerable. During drought many horses can
die, mainly from starvation, lack of water and eating
toxic plants that they usually avoid. They gather
round waterholes where they are often culled for
humane reasons.
Feral horses can be controlled using a number of
conventional control techniques providing strict
animal welfare guidelines are followed.
Herds are often mustered and usually some of the
younger horses are kept for saddle horses or pets.
Trapping may be less stressful to feral horses than
mustering, but there are animal welfare concerns
about the handling of feral horses in traps and
during transport to abattoirs.
In terrain where mustering on horseback or on
motorbikes is not possible, helicopters have
been used. Aerial culling by properly trained and
accredited shooters using approved procedures
is considered to be a humane way to reduce feral
horse numbers over large areas. The process is
quick and eliminates the stresses of mustering,
yarding and transportation for slaughter.
Fertility control is a non-lethal approach to feral
horse management but it is currently of limited use.
Fertility control techniques are difficult to administer
to large numbers of unyarded feral horses and
the treatment would need to be repeated often
to be effective. It is not yet known whether such
techniques can reduce the environmental damage
caused by a population of feral horses in an area of
high conservation value.
Further reading:
For further information, contact:
Dobbie WR, Berman D McK and Braysher ML

(1993). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Horses.
Bureau of Resource Sciences, Canberra.
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water,

Population and Communities
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 1800 803 772
Web site www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/
invasive/html
[email protected]
Commonwealth of Australia 2011

This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal,
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Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.
environment.gov.au
BIO149.0610
Photo credits in order: Illustration of feral horse and donkey (Karina Hansen McInnes and Sharyn Wragg), Wild horse in the
Musgrave Ranges near Umuwa, SA (Mike Jensen & DSEWPaC), Donkeys in vegetation (Denis OByrne/ANTphoto.com.au),
Wild donkeys near Umuwa, SA (Mike Jensen & DSEWPaC), Feral horses destroying waterhole and vegetation (QLD Environmental
Protection Agency).

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FERAL HORSE (EQUUS CABALLUS)

AND FERAL DONKEY (EQUUS

Most of the estimated 400000 feral horses occur

Distribution of feral horses in Australia

Feral horses and donkeys form small social units

Donkeys eat coarser vegetation than horses. Both

For further information, contact:

Dobbie WR, Berman D McK and Braysher ML

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water,

Commonwealth of Australia 2011

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