G’day mates, and welcome to this edition of Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants! Today we’ll make our way to the New England Brumby Sanctuary in the town of Armidale in the state of New South Wales, Australia to speak with members of Save the Brumbies, an animal welfare charity dedicated to protecting and ensuring a bright future for Australia’s wild horses or Brumbies.

Brumbies are widely known in Australia as the free ranging characters in the poems ofthe Australian bush  poet, Banjo Paterson. They descend from horses brought from England to Australia beginning in 1788 and are thought to be named after English soldier James Brumby who came to Australia in the 1790’s. 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.” Today Brumbies are greatest in number in the Northern Territory, Queensland and northern Western Australia.

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.”
Jan Carter is the founder and president of Save the Brumbies. She is a former aerobics instructor and a retired professional musician. She has recorded an album entitled “Run with the Wind,” which was done as
a tribute to the Brumbies and has also written a children’s book about horses called “The Sunflower Pony.”

For more details on Save The Brumbies, please visit www.SaveTheBrumbies.org
Jan Carter’s “Run with the Wind” CD is available at the same website