Australia's feral horse population poses a significant extinction threat to several native species, experts have warned.
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC), which advises the federal government on endangered species, said on Monday that urgent action was needed to address the damage being done to sensitive ecosystems by brumbies in the Australian Alps, Xinhua news agency reported.
The federal government in October revealed a new threatened species recovery plan that included a goal of preventing any new extinctions of native species.
However, in a submission to a Senate inquiry into the damage caused by feral horses, the TSSC added that brumbies pose an "imminent threat" to the goal of stopping new extinction of plants and animals.
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Feral horses trample vegetation and habitat and damage waterways along Australia's southeast.
The TSSC said they are a known threat to 12 animals -- four fish, four reptiles, three frogs and one mammal -- half of which are already critically endangered.
"Horses mess this habitat up in a way that the entire population is highly at risk unless we get serious," TSSC member Chris Johnson was quoted by the Guardian Australia on Monday.
"We could be looking on the map at a hotspot of extinction that we will regret. We need urgent management action to stop that from happening."
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The state government of New South Wales has set a goal of reducing the number of horses in the Kosciuszko National Park, which encompasses much of the Alps, to 3,000.
The federal environment department said in its submission to the inquiry that the target was not on track, with 4,000 horses needing to be eradicated every year to achieve the goal.
