A licence to kill native animals has been labelled "red tape" by the Baird government and will be abolished, prompting warnings the move will declare "open season" on kangaroos, emus, wombats and cockatoos.

Last year 47,000 native animals and birds were killed in NSW by property owners using an "s121 licence". Each licence strictly controls the number of animals permitted to killed, and requires data to be lodged with the Office of Environment and Heritage.

A wombat that escaped logging.

The office issued permits for 34 species, or a total of 145,550 animals and birds to be killed in 2015-16. This included more than 100,000 eastern grey kangaroos, almost 9000 corellas, 6500 sulphur crested cockatoos, 5500 galahs, 655 emus, 175 swamp wallabies, 113 wombats and 83 magpies.

An application to kill kookaburras at North Head by a lessee in Sydney Harbour National Park was refused.