Tasmanian conservationists are ramping up efforts to stop the government allowing farmers to legally kill up to 50 of Australia's best-known marsupials a year to protect crops.

An online petition by a group called Wombat Warriors has amassed more than 3,000 signatures calling on Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff to cease issuing cull permits while the wombat population continues to be affected by the deadly sarcoptic mange disease, which has depleted populations around Australia.

Wombats pushing under a fence at night. ( Supplied: DPIPWE )

In February, the ABC reported more than 50 permits had been issued to Tasmanian landholders allowing them to kill up to 50 wombats per year

Speaking on ABC Radio Hobart today, Mr Rockliff could not say how many wombats unaffected by the mange had been killed as a result of the permits.

"In terms of the number of healthy wombats, I don't know the answer," he said.

He said only four wombat cull permits had been issued up to May this year, "under extreme circumstances".

"We're very mindful of the fact we need to work on the issue of mange, that's why you've seen a reduction in the number of permits that have been issued," he said.

"We've tightened the rules and regulations considerably."

Tasmanian Tiger-style extinction warning

John Harris says allowing permits for culling is "insanity" when they are dying from mange. ( ABC News: Laura Beavis )

But Wombat Warriors founder John Harris said allowing the permits to continue being issued was "tantamount to insanity".

"Four permits at 50 wombats, you've got to ask yourself is someone going to be doing a body count."

"These are healthy living wombats in the midst of what would have to be deemed a plague on a native animal."

"I just keep reminding myself that the Tasmanian government only declared help for the (Tasmanian) Tiger 56 days before it went extinct, so we're just trying to head that off at the pass."

In its petition, Wombat Warriors directly warned Mr Rockliff of the consequences of a species being lost "on your watch".

"We are sure that like us you don't want to tell your children and your grandchildren that you once had the power to protect and save a species but chose instead to allow this to happen on your watch," the petition reads.

In March, the State Government announced $100,000 in funding for programs to "secure the recovery of Tasmania's wombat population from the devastating impact of mange".