The Law is an Ass – The Kachana Station Donkey Story
By John Ogilvie
Kachana Station owner Chris Henggeler with some of the station’s donkeys
In a remote corner of Western Australia, far from Perth’s narrow-minded bureaucrats, a grazier and his family are waging a crucial battle for property rights, innovation and the future of sustainable farming. The WA Government, through the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), has ordered the property owner to cull a vital herd of wild donkeys. If he refuses, he faces massive fines and even the possibility of jail time. This isn’t just a local dispute; it’s a stark example of outdated regulations crushing proven progress, and it demands urgent attention from anyone who values ingenuity over bureaucracy.
So, how did it come to this, and why is the WA Government making such a fuss over some donkeys? To understand, we must go back to the beginning.
Kachana Station is situated just outside of Kununurra. Being located in the tropics, the station experiences an extended dry season every year. This makes water retention and vegetation growth essential for any livestock operation to survive, and thrive.
The station is owned by Chris Henggeler. Born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Chris made his way to Australia in 1979 after falling in love with the local environment. Chris settled on Kachana Station in 1985. Seeking self-sufficiency and a place to raise his family, Chris took on land others had abandoned as barren wasteland. But he saw untapped potential and set out to prove it.
How Donkeys Transformed the Landscape
Chris and his family were able to transform the landscape of Kachana Station using an agricultural framework called “holistic management,” a framework pioneered by Zimbabwean ecologist Allan Savory. This is a technique with decades of evidence and experimentation behind it. Among other things, it leverages hoofed animals to boost soil quality and water retention. By harnessing hoofed animals like cattle and wild donkeys, it replicates the natural dynamics of predator-driven herds, where dense groups graze intensively before moving on, preventing overgrazing and promoting renewal.
The animals’ hooves break up the hard soil, which improves water infiltration and seed germination. The urine and manure of the hoofed animals further improves the quality of the soil. At Kachana Station, donkeys are vital to the success of this technique, tackling inaccessible rocky ranges and spinifex plateaus where cattle fear to tread. These environments cover most of the property, so the inclusion of donkeys makes regeneration possible on a scale cattle alone couldn’t achieve.
The images from this ABC story about Kachana Station speak for themselves. The land has been completely transformed from a dusty desert into a lush oasis. There are even more beautiful photos on their website.
Observations by Chris and independent researchers have documented how donkeys slash bushfire risks by eating flammable vegetation cattle won’t touch, in hard-to-reach zones. In the fire-ravaged Kimberley, this alone could save lives, property, and millions in damages.
Chris doesn’t just let the donkeys multiply unchecked. He culls around 21 every year to keep their numbers in check. But bureaucrats demand he slaughter 117 from a herd of roughly 150, effectively dooming his model.
Why the Opposition?
This success story should be celebrated, right? The land is healthier, more productive and safer. So why is the government hell-bent on sabotage?
Donkeys are an introduced species, having been brought over to Australia by Europeans as beasts of burden in the mid-19th century. As the law currently stands in most states, any introduced animal that isn’t domesticated is considered a pest and landowners are legally obligated to cull them. This is based on the assumption that all introduced animals have highly detrimental effects on the environment, and that they have little if any positive influence. Chris’s thriving station obliterates this myth, proving they can be powerful allies in regeneration, echoing findings from holistic management studies worldwide
The Government’s response to what is happening at Kachana Station is a perfect example of how ex ante regulations stifle innovation.
What are Ex Ante Regulations?
“Ex ante” Is a Latin phrase meaning “before the event.” Ex ante regulations are laws like licenses, standards and bans designed to prevent hypothetical harms. Sounds sensible? In theory, yes. but when it goes too far they crush risk-taking, the lifeblood of progress. Where’s the incentive to innovate if you’re penalized upfront? Risk is often tied to reward, and heavy ex ante regimes limit do not tolerate risk.
In wildlife management, these rules force landowners to cull so-called pests control without room for positive integration. For Kachana, it means culling before “harm” occurs, gutting donkey densities below what’s needed for Chris’s proven results. This rigid, one-size-fits-all mindset blinds authorities to the massive benefits of Chris’s management approach. The soil restoration, fire prevention and biodiversity gains could transform Australian agriculture. The opportunity costs if this experiment is stopped? Immense loss of productivity, environmental degradation and increased fire risk.
Over-regulation like this doesn’t protect, it paralyzes.
Latest Developments
On October 29, 2025, the WA State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) ruled against Kachana Station and upheld the cull order from DPIRD. In the SAT’s written explanation, they stated that their mandate was limited to simply reviewing DPIRD’s cull order, rather than considering the more important discussion about whether donkeys are good or bad for the environment. How can donkeys be truly valueless pests when the empirical evidence screams otherwise?
In response to the SAT ruling, a spokesperson for DPIRD voiced their approval of the court’s decision by stating, “Feral donkeys are declared pests of agriculture in WA under the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007, and programs are in place to control feral donkey populations where they impact agricultural production.”
In other words, “Regardless of any positive effect the donkeys may be having, they have to be culled because it’s the law.” To quote Charles Dickens, “if the law supposes that… the law is [an] ass.”
Pun emphatically intended.
Rather than embrace innovation, The Government would rather crush this experiment due to narrow-minded thinking.
In a November interview with the ABC, Chris said the while he will not stand in the way of the donkeys being culled on his property, he refuses to carry it out himself. This makes perfect sense. Why should he be forced to destroy a valuable asset to his stewardship of the land?
Chris has said he is open to compromise and is prepared to conduct experiments and formal research studies proving the effectiveness of his holistic management strategy. However, he stated that such experiments require resources that are currently unavailable to him. This is a golden chance for philanthropists, researchers, or forward-thinking policymakers to step up and validate what eyes can already see. It would make for a fantastic research project.
The Kachana Station should serve as a wake-up call. Bureaucratic inertia and rigid thinking are killing innovation and productivity. But Chris’s defiance inspires, proving one person’s courage can challenge the status quo and spark real change.
We at Backbone Australia wish Chris and his family all the best. We are convinced his approach will not only endure but revolutionize land management across the nation.
All images included in this story are from the Kachana Station website. To see more photos and read more about the station, please visit it here: