The Wombat Protection Society of Australia is devastated by what they say is unnecessary culling of the protected common wombat on the South Coast and Southern Highlands.The society's public affairs officer Amanda Cox also labelled the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as ignorant for issuing farmers with an estimated 200 licences to shoot the marsupials this year.The service issued the licences as a last resort to farmers who were fed up with wombats' destroying fences and burrowing holes that undermined their houses.Ms Cox said alternatives to shooting included wombat gates and stand-off electric fencing, which had proved successful in warding off wombats in the past. Ms Cox also said claims by the service that wombat numbers were going up "at an extremely high rate" were unfounded as wombats had a high attrition rate, with a mother only being able to raise two babies successfully to adulthood on average.The other problem with culling wombats, Ms Cox said, is that another wombat from the surrounding area simply moves in and creates a new burrow, exacerbating the farmer's problem. "Most of these shooting licences are restricted to 10 or 20 animals and that can be the whole wombat population that is on a particular farm," Ms Cox said."It's a self-defeating process but it is based on ignorance and that is what annoys us the most."NPWS spokesman John Dengate said the service "absolute hate" authorising the destruction of any animal, "but we understand that farmers have to have some reasonable option for going about their business."Mr Dengate cited one example of a farmer "who actually loved wombats", having to hire a plumber every two weeks to reconnect the sewerage after the pipes were damaged by the burrowing marsupials.Mr Dengate said the NPWS would inspect farms that had obtained shooting licences to determine the threat from wombat damage.