An off-duty Aboriginal police officer who was filmed stoning a wombat to death in South Australia has issued an apology letter to his community for the video but said he stands by the traditional hunting practices of his people.

Key points: Mr Johncock said both he and his children have received death threats over the incident

Mr Johncock said both he and his children have received death threats over the incident He said he was in his "religious capacity" and within his "cultural right" to hunt and eat the wombat

He said he was in his "religious capacity" and within his "cultural right" to hunt and eat the wombat SA Police last week announced he would not face criminal charges and will keep his job

The video, posted on the Wombat Awareness Organisation Facebook page in early October, shows Yalata-based Senior Community Constable Waylon Johncock chasing a wombat along a dirt road in the Gawler Ranges and throwing rocks at it.

The video went viral, prompting national outcry and dividing Aboriginal elders over traditional hunting methods.

On Friday Mr Johncock released the letter to the "Far West Coast Aboriginal Community", saying he was "deeply sorry" the video emerged on social media and detailing how both he and his children have been targeted with death threats.

Mr Johncock celebrates after the wombat stops moving. ( Facebook: Wombat Awareness Organisation )

The letter, shared with NITV News via the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation, said Mr Johncock was born "into a proud Kokotha/Wirangu family" on the state's West Coast, and that he was "introduced to hunting native tucker at a very young age".

"In relation to the wombat matter it was never my intention to cause anyone distress," the letter reads.

"Looking back, however, I can now clearly see how such raw content can be offensive to anyone who is unfamiliar with our traditional hunting practices.

"I completely agree with our traditional elders that the footage should have never been posted on social media because it has given the outside world a look into our traditional ways of living and for that, I am deeply sorry."

Mr Johncock said he was unaware the video would be shared on social media, "or that it would be altered in such a way to try dishonour my occupation, name, family or culture".

"As you are all aware I was in my religious capacity and was within my cultural right to take the life of the wombat and that it was cleaned, passed onto family and was then cut up and shared out amongst multiple other families.

"As a result of this I have been under attack from the outside world and received hundreds of death threats, some of these death threats have been targeted at my family but the most disturbing of all were the ones written and targeted at my children."

Aboriginal people are currently allowed to hunt for the purpose of food and culture under South Australia's National Parks and Wildlife Act.

The southern hairy-nosed wombat is South Australia's state fauna emblem. ( ABC Open contributor: Claire Marie )

Officer to remain in role with SA Police

Last week, SA Police announced that Constable Johncock would escape criminal charges over the incident, and would also remain in his role.

Police conducted parallel criminal and internal disciplinary investigations into the matter.

In a statement on Friday, Commissioner Stevens said the investigators established that as a "traditional Aboriginal man", he had an "appropriate permit to hunt wombats for food".

"Whilst distressing to many who viewed the video, it has been established that the senior community constable's actions were not inconsistent with traditional hunting practices," he said.

"I have been advised that the wombat in the video was killed and eaten."

Animal organisations call for laws to be changed

A petition started by the Wombat Awareness Organisation in early October calling for the incident to be investigated under the Animal Welfare Act has so far attracted more than 356,970 supporters.

Both the RSPCA and Wombats SA have also called for the laws around Indigenous hunting to be reviewed.

The RSPCA's SA branch said, "the use of inhumane methods to kill animals — whether for subsistence or not — is unacceptable".

Ngarrindjeri elder Major Sumner has questioned the incident. ( ABC News: Isadora Bogle )

Wombats SA president Peter Clements called for "a review of the dispensation that native people have to kill native animals that are otherwise protected".

"There's a loophole in the law for them, which I think the criteria for who's allowed to do that should be more strict or more based on proper traditional Aboriginal methods of hunting," Mr Clements said.

Major "Moogy" Sumner, a Ngarrindjeri elder, rejected calls for changes that would result in bans on traditional hunting.

But he also condemned the incident, telling the ABC that Mr Johncock and the man doing the filming were not showing the animal any respect.

"We didn't hunt like that. It may be their way but it's not our way, and to run around and laugh about it and make a big joke out of it, that's wrong," he said.

"To call it cultural — I wouldn't call it cultural, in our way, in the Ngarrindjeri way. You had certain things you hunted with — you hunted with spears, you hunted with boomerangs.