Everywhere in the world, we can observe and be touched by acts of kindness. People from all walks of life, faiths, and cultures extend themselves beyond the call of duty to help others unconditionally. Through their noble deeds, humanity as a whole is elevated.

To commend virtuous actions and encourage more people to be inspired by their examples, Supreme Master Ching Hai has lovingly created a series of awards, including the Shining World Leadership Award, Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Inventor Award, to recognize some of the most exemplary, generous, caring, and courageous people who walk amongst us.

The smallest sanctuary, where you’re filming today at Bellingen, this is for horses in special care. Our horses are never, ever sold through public auction or abattoirs or anything like that. Every single horse has the divine right of life and we make sure they are cared for.

Welcome, nature loving viewers, to another edition of the Shining World Award series, featuring the noble deeds of Save the Brumbies, an animal welfare group dedicated to protecting and ensuring a bright future for Australia’s wild horses, known as Brumbies.

Brumbies are widely known in Australia as the free-ranging characters in the poems of Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson. They descend from horses brought from England to Australia beginning in 1788 and are thought to have been named after English soldier James Brumby, who came to Australia in the 1790s.

When he was transferred to the island of Tasmania, he is said to have left horses behind in New South Wales, where they eventually became wild. Another theory is that the word “brumby” originates from the Australian Aboriginal word “baroomby,” meaning “wild.”

Save the Brumbies’ mission is “to see humane, controlled management [of Brumbies] and the abolition of shooting of wild horses in national parks and public lands Australia wide.”

Today I’d like to introduce Jan Carter and Lisa Burgess from the Save the Brumbies in Northern New South Wales, Australia.

Thank you for coming out here today to talk about our wild horses. The Australian horse is typically known these days as brumby. Seven horses came out on the First Fleet in 1788 to the colonies here. They were three stallions and four mares. Today the brumby is an Australian icon; he is steeped in heritage and folklore. Without the horse, Australia wouldn't be the nation it is.

I believe you have established two reserves for the horses, one here in Bellingen and one in Armidale.

Yes, we have, with the help of sponsors and wonderful supporters, we now have our main sanctuary in Armidale, which is on the tablelands of New South Wales, and is 1,400 acres. We run adoption re-homing programs for the horses. The smallest sanctuary, where you’re filming today at Bellingen, this is for horses in special care.

A small percentage of horses that come through our program may be injured. It could be a past injury or something that happened to them. It could be horses that might be down in condition. It could be an orphan, after his mother died in the wild. Even horses that just need a little bit of extra time to settle before the adoption process, they come here. We care for the horses here at this smaller sanctuary on a very personal level. It does cost approximately AUD$2,000 per horse in special care, which is a lot of money.

And our main sanctuary is at Armidale, New South Wales, and our president, Lisa Burgess, runs the Armidale sanctuary.

How many horses would you say that you’ve managed to relocate and save?

We’ve re-homed well over 200 horses now over the last four to five years. And we could take more; funding stops us and having the right people to work with the horses, and we certainly can’t afford to pay people, we’re all volunteers. So, yes, and we always have a waiting list for our horses and they go on to wonderful homes.

Lisa and you were saying before that you developed a deep bond with these wild horses and that they have special relationships within their own herd. Could you give us a little more insight into that?

Yes, that’s a big thing about them. They have a very strong mob herd mentality; basically it was out in the wild; the relationships they have, that all depends on their survival. So if they’re on their own, they’re just more susceptible to danger. When they’ve totally, 100% bonded to you and trust you, then you can take them anywhere, and now they will do anything; as long you’re happy with the situation and you’re comfortable with it, they’re comfortable with it. They’re good on body language as well.

If they sense you’re nervous about a situation, then they get nervous, because they read you. So they’re thinking, “Well, if you’re not comfortable with situation and if you’re not going through there, well, I’m not going to go through there.”

What about now with the foals? They’d be vulnerable? What happens? Do they come around and protect them?

Yes, it’s actually very, very funny. They are very protective of their foals, but the ones who come in and they’ve learned to trust me and respect me, I can go in amongst them, and, the foals being curious and whatever, they can actually come up to me and hang around me.

Congratulations on your marvelous effort in establishing these sanctuaries, and to recognize your efforts, I’d like to present you with a letter from Supreme Master Ching Hai herself.

The following is an excerpt from the warm letter. Your sanctuary offers a loving home where the wild brumbies are carefully relocated, nurtured, cared for, and most importantly, protected from the danger and trauma of culling programs, including aerial shooting. In turn, the brumbies bring joy and blessings to humankind by direct contact with their pure, unconditional love through the intelligent and affectionate nature they freely share, and through the unbridled beauty and majesty of their character.

Thank you for your inspirational example of love in action. For protecting the brumbies and being their voice, for your vision, passion, and unstoppable energy, and for being a wise and dedicated role model, we hereby applaud and celebrate the compassionate deeds of Mrs. Jan Carter and the warm-hearted friends, supporters and volunteers of Save the Brumbies.” With Great Honour, Love and Blessings, Supreme Master Ching Hai.

On behalf of Supreme Master Ching Hai, it gives us great pleasure to award you the Shining World Compassion Award.

It’s absolutely magnificent. When we first heard that we had been granted such an international award and such an honor, all of us were absolutely speechless, because we’re a small charity, we’re all volunteers, we have no paid staff, we do everything ourselves and we really struggle from one week to the next sometimes to look after the horses. And when the hay bill needs paying, probably we pass the hat around to meet the bill. So it’s absolutely incredible that such a tiny charity has been acknowledged in such a beautiful way.

Supreme Master Ching Hai gifted to Ms. Carter some of her DVDs and CDs as well as her international #1 best-selling books, “The Dogs in My Life,” “The Birds in My Life” and “The Noble Wilds,” which describe the splendid, loving qualities of our beloved animal co-inhabitants. Master also contributed funds to help further the benevolent work of Save the Brumbies.

It gives me great pleasure to present you and your committee with this check from Supreme Master Ching Hai for AUD$13,260.00 to help pay for those hay bills and save a few more horses.

It will certainly save a few more horses. And with a little bit of luck we’ve had such a terrible winter, it’s been wet and snowing for Lisa and she’s been working knee-deep in mud with new arrivals with the horses, and part of this money is going towards the roof over the yards. Master Ching Hai, I’m absolutely overwhelmed by your philosophies, for the way you live your life, for the way you inspire others, and also for your compassion for the animals of the world that cannot speak for themselves, they have no voice.

We don’t live in an easy world today, and what you are doing is just a rare jewel in humankind. And I thank you on behalf of Lisa and my committee, and most of all our beautiful horses. We thank you from the bottom of our heart for caring and for taking the trouble to be involved with Save the Brumbies.

Jan Carter later sent a heartfelt letter to Supreme Master Ching Hai about the Award. With Blessings and love to you, Master. Our small charity and team of dedicated volunteers have been overwhelmed with our treasured Shining World Compassion Award.

Know that our beautiful, wild horses will benefit greatly from your kindness and donation of your generous money, which will help us improve our Sanctuary facilities and provide much-needed assistance towards the large fodder accounts. You are an Angel of Mercy and love to all, and our free-spirit horses thank you so very much for caring about their future. Respectfully yours, with God’s Eternal Grace, JAN CARTER for SAVE THE BRUMBIES INC.

Jan Carter, Lisa Burgess and the other benevolent volunteers at Save the Brumbies, we again would like to express our appreciation and respect for what you are doing every day for the horses. May your shining example of compassion and love serve as a beacon of hope, as our civilization progresses towards an era of peace and harmony among all beings.

For more details on Save the Brumbies, please visit

Thank you, friendly viewers, for your kind presence today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May the high-spirited and elegant Australian brumbies always grace our planet with their beauty.