A cockatoo has been filmed tearing anti-nesting spikes from a shopping centre, freeing up the ledge for other birds in the Australian city of Katoomba.

In a video posted on social media, titled ‘F*** the police”, the sulphur-crested cockatoo is seen patiently ripping out sections of metal spikes and dropping them on the pavement outside the Town Centre Arcade on Katoomba Street.

The camera later pans down to reveal the bird has torn out dozens of the sections across the entire length of the wall.

The footage, which was posted on Monday by Isaac Sherring-Tito, has been shared more than 34,000 times on Facebook.

“The trail of destruction is magnificent,” one user commented, while another said: “Cockatoos are badass”.

One Twitter user who lives nearby in Wentworth Falls, New South Wales, said the bird had once tried to steal his shopping and that it "cons tourists out of their snacks".

"He is a liar and a thief," he added.

Cockatoos are known to be extremely social and intelligent; a University of Vienna study suggested the large parrots have levels of cognitive development to match four-year-old humans.