It comes as submissions on the controversial brumby cull plan closed on Friday, amidst continued protest from locals that it would sign the death warrant of the iconic animal.  

The call was backed by 41 scientists in an open letter on Friday, which included Deakin University ecologist Don Driscoll.

Professor Driscoll has been a longstanding advocate for reducing the population to preserve native flora and fauna. 

In 2014, he recounted seeing three ‘cannibal’ brumbies eating a deceased horse in Kosciuszko National Park.

Any attachment to the brumby should be trumped by the needs of native species, Professor Driscoll said. 

“Because it is such a small area in our national parks that are protected for native species we should dedicate those areas to just native species,” he said.

“They’ve been there for millions of years, horses have only been there for not even 200 years.” 

The open letter, which was sent to Premier Mike Baird, asked for brumbies to be aerially shot in the park rather than trapped and removed for re-homing attempts.

Aerial shooting has been outlawed in NSW since 2000. 

In May National Parks and Wildlife Service unveiled their proposal to substantially amp up brumby removal programs from the park.

The plan has proposed to reduce the current population from 6000 to 600 in 20 years, citing destruction to native plants and animals.

Snowy Brumby Coalition member and former state member for Monaro Peter Cochran said Snowy Mountain locals were still furious about the proposal. 

“People are very angry,” he said.

“They are very angry for two reasons; that this whole process was dropped on people in the mountains during the busiest tourist season in winter, and also in the middle of a federal election when people are very busy.” 

NPWS have said all feedback received will be considered and “changes may be made to the plan where deemed appropriate”.