‘Feral horses don’t know state borders’: the push to protect Victoria’s Alpine national park

‘Australians haven’t actually started living on this continent like they are from here and they have a responsibility of custodianship,’ Wiradjuri river guide Richard Swain says. Photograph: Otis Filley/The Guardian

The journey from Cooma in southern New South Wales to Native Cat Flat in Victoria’s Alpine national park is a challenging trek along rugged four-wheel-drive tracks. For Richard Swain, a Wiradjuri man born in the Snowy Mountains, it’s worth the trip. We are headed to an area of remnant vegetation, fenced off from the more than 2,700 feral horses that live in the national park and Bogong High Plains.

There are four exclusion plots, each bordered by a modest wire fence. Behind the fences, lush sphagnum, dense vegetation, grass tussocks, shrubs and herbs thrive, showcasing an alpine landscape unaffected by the presence of horses.