Tony Azzi, left, and Nick Karagiannis with a dead wombat. Mr Azzi, 58, who recently acquired a $14 million waterfront mansion in Elizabeth Bay, owns the Larke Hoskins car dealerships in Rosebery and Homebush. Wombats are classified as protected fauna under the National Parks and Wildlife Act. Unless a special licence has been obtained from the Office of Environment and Heritage, it is a criminal offence to harm them. Offenders can face six months' jail and/or a fine of $11,000 plus $1100 for each additional offence. A former associate of Mr Azzi who has since fallen out with him has provided a statement to the NPWS in which he alleges that over a four-year period he saw the car dealer killing wombats, as well as kangaroos, ducks and goats on his country property. Mr Azzi confirmed to Fairfax Media via email that he has "shot and killed wildlife on my country property" but "not before checking with local people and farmers for their advice".

He listed kangaroos, foxes and goats as animals he had shot. "I do not shoot animals for fun and when killing them it will be done in a very human [sic] manner. I am an excellent marksman," he said. "I am a licensed firearm holder and I keep two firearms in a safe at the farm fully certified by the NSW police." Mr Karagiannis told Fairfax Media he had never "fired a gun" or "shot an animal" on his boss's property. "I can say that under any oath or with anything you like." He suggested any photos of the pair might have been doctored, as he and Mr Azzi had been involved in a long-running business dispute with an unnamed wholesale car dealer.

Mr Azzi said that if there was a photo of the pair with a dead wombat, "Nicholas spotted a large one this night by the side of the road moving in a funny way , I went to investigate he looked like he was hit by a car and his back legs paralysed, only pulling himself with his feet.

"I realised he was in pain with no chance to survive, so I did the human thing anyone could do to an injured wildlife and put a 308 bullet in his head. Lighting [sic] death a lot better than the foxes eating him alive," he said. While not wishing to comment on this particular case, former Treasury head Ken Henry, a board member of the animal protection organisation, Voiceless, said "Australia's native animals are precious; that is why we have laws to protect them". "But laws shouldn't be needed to protect an animal from being hunted for sport or tortured. Human decency would be sufficient," said Dr Henry, who has a special interest in the preservation of the endangered hairy-nosed wombat.



The RSPCA's chief inspector, David O'Shannessy, said his organisation was opposed to the hunting of any animal for sport, because it causes unnecessary injury and suffering to the animal. "What makes this particular case so much worse is the fact that the animal involved is a protected native animal,"Mr O'Shannessy said. He urged anyone with information regarding the commission of alleged animal cruelty offences to report those incidents "so that they can be investigated and appropriate action taken." A spokeswoman for the Office of the Environment and Heritage said the office was unable to comment on the matter while it was under investigation.