Wild horses in NSW Snowy Mountains turn to cannibalism

Wild horses in the NSW Snowy Mountains have turned to cannibalism with current culling methods failing and leaving them malnourished and starving.

A recent visit to made to Kosciuszko National Park by ANU researchers found the animals to be "emaciated" with "ribs and bony hips protruding".

Desperate for food, the brumbies had begun eating one another with the publication witnessing two horses "nibbling" at the "gaping abdominal cavity" of another horse, lying dead on the ground.

The alarming behaviour is being blamed on a 2008 decision by the Kosciuszko National Park Horse Management Community Steering Group to scrap culling by aerial shooting.

Instead, the group chose to trap horses using lures and mustering.

The consequences of the decision have now come under the spotlight, with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage launching a review into the Parks wild horse management plan.