A controversial report on the management of feral horses in the fragile alpine environment Kosciuszko National Park has been tabled by the Senate Environment Committee in Canberra this afternoon, ramping up pressure on NSW and federal governments.

The Senate report, endorsed by Labor senators, urges the federal government to trigger its powers under national laws to force state governments to dramatically reduce feral horses in Kosciuszko - something that hasn’t been done before. It also called for the Albanese government to boost funding to states for the management of the area.

Significantly, the report called on the NSW government to remove its self-imposed ban on aerial shooting in a bid to reduce the swiftly growing horse population.

It also called on the federal government to take a leadership role to help NSW, Victorian and ACT governments cooperate on improving the degraded ecosystems of the Australian Alps.

“The heritage-listed Australian Alps are under pressure from significant threats. Key among these is the threat posed by feral horses,” the report said.

Ecologists state that hungry herds of horses, with their damaging hooves, must be reduced as quickly to prevent the extinction of threatened native species including the stocky galaxias fish and the corroboree frog, and to halt escalating damage to the fragile ecosystem. They advocate for aerial culling with trained shooters in helicopters.

Advocates for the horses champion the history and romance of the brumbies are bitterly opposed to their removal, argue against culling on animal welfare grounds and are calling for the horses to retain a presence in Kosciuszko.

Experts say aerial culling is needed to rapidly reduce growing mobs of feral horses. The control method is banned in NSW, under the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Bill that outlawed the practice under a peace deal brokered between former NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean and former Nationals Leader John Barilaro - to settle tensions amid an internal war over the issue within the NSW Coalition.

There are 18,800 horses in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW’s portion of the Alps, and the population has increased about 30 per cent in the past two years.

There is no ban in Victoria, but aerial culling has never been undertaken. An estimated 2500 horses are in Victoria’s portion of the Alps.