16/06/2026
The man who rode into our hearts as the Man from Snowy River has spoken out. And he is not holding back. 🐴👇
Tom Burlinson has called the aerial brumby cull barbaric. And millions of Australians agree with him.
If there is one person whose voice carries genuine weight in the debate over Australia's wild brumbies, it is Tom Burlinson.
Most Australians of your generation remember exactly where they were when they first watched the young stockman ride his horse down that impossibly steep mountain in The Man from Snowy River. It was 1982. It was magnificent. And Tom Burlinson became part of Australian folklore that day, as did the wild mountain horses he rode alongside.
More than forty years later, Burlinson is speaking out again about those same horses. And this time, the message is urgent.
The iconic actor has blasted the aerial culling currently underway in Kosciuszko National Park as barbaric, calling on NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe to stop it immediately. His words echo what hundreds of thousands of Australians have been feeling as helicopters have been flying over the Snowy Mountains shooting brumbies from the air since June 9.
Burlinson has previously told radio host Ray Hadley that the slaughter taking place in the mountains is plain cruel, describing it as a dreadful practice that has no place in how Australia treats its iconic animals.
He is far from alone. A petition calling for an end to aerial culling has now gathered more than 220,000 signatures. The Cooma Mountain Brumby Sanctuary has described the practice as completely barbaric and inhumane, arguing that horses are being shot and left to die slowly and painfully. Some advocates have also questioned whether the population numbers used to justify the cull have been overstated, with some groups arguing the real number of brumbies in the park is far lower than official estimates suggest.
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service defends the program strongly. It points to independent scientific research published earlier this year showing that where brumby numbers have been reduced, native vegetation is regrowing, creek banks are recovering, and endangered species are getting a chance to survive.
More than 9,000 horses have been culled since 2021, and current operations are scheduled to run until the end of June, with a second round planned for November.
NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe has not backed down in response to Burlinson's criticism, maintaining that the evidence clearly supports population management to protect the alpine environment.
But for Australians who grew up loving the high country, who recited Banjo Paterson's poetry at school, and who saw something deeply and uniquely Australian in those wild horses running free through the mountains, this debate is about far more than environmental management. It is about who we are as a nation and what we choose to protect.
Do you agree with Tom Burlinson that aerial culling of brumbies is barbaric and should be stopped? Or do you believe the environmental evidence means it must continue?
Share your thoughts in the comments below. 🐴🏔️🇦🇺
