Brumbies will be shot from the air in NSW for the first time in years after failed attempts to cull their growing population in Kosciuszko National Park.

Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said the change in approach was essential to protect the park’s threatened native wildlife and ecosystems.

“I know this decision will upset some members of the community,” she said on Friday.

“I empathise with those who feel distressed that we must undertake control programs.”

Environmental groups have long called for the use of aerial shooting, a move that was also supported at a federal parliamentary inquiry in early October.

That inquiry found brumbies posed an immediate extinction risk to native species in the Australian Alps.

Feral horse numbers have exploded since then-NSW Nationals leader and deputy premier John Barilaro opposed culls in favour of trapping and rehoming in 2018.

Some forms of culling were reintroduced in 2021 in an effort to bring the population to a “sustainable” headcount of 3000 within six years.

But numbers have instead been increasing, reaching 18,800 in NSW and 25,000 across the Alps, according to official figures.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek backed aerial shooting as “a huge help” to reducing serious damage to parks.

Developed with an independent wildlife veterinarian and RSPCA NSW, a preliminary shooting program will shortly begin and inform the state’s ongoing standards.

Relevant areas of Kosciuszko National Park will be closed when aerial shooting occurs.

But the decision will have wider consequences for state Labor as it loses a key left-wing vote that will narrow its ability to pass legislation.

While Sharpe was confident aerial shooting could be done in accordance with rigorous animal welfare standards, rights groups point to the difficulty of shooting the head of a moving target.

Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst said it was hard to see how her party could support a government that had failed to uphold any election promises for animal protection reform.

“When the last government-sanctioned aerial shooting of brumbies took place at Guy Fawkes [national park], horses were found days later still alive with bullet wounds,” she said.

“This is the sort of bloodbath we will likely see again.”

The loss of Hurst’s vote would force Labor to rely on at least one vote from the right to pass any legislation opposed by the opposition.

Sharpe acknowledged no one wanted to kill wild horses but said there were simply too many in Kosciuszko National Park.

Amid some criticism over the veracity of brumby population counts, she confirmed her department’s 2023 survey would be peer-reviewed.

Aerial shooting won 82 per cent support during public consultation, from the 9500 submissions commenting on the proposal.

“We believe this is representative of a broader shift in public sentiment as awareness of the impact of feral horses has grown,” Nature Conservation Council of NSW chief executive Jacqui Mumford said.

The Invasive Species Council said the return to aerial shooting was a “huge win” for native wildlife and mountain streams.

“Now our park rangers can finally get on with the difficult task of removing thousands of feral horses before our mountains and rivers are trampled beyond repair,” advocacy manager Jack Gough said.

– AAP