A country council has written to the South Australian Government urging gas be used to cull corella flocks across the state, but the proposal has been condemned as "macho" and "cruel" by an animal behaviour expert.

Key points: The Alexandrina Council is recommending gassing as the best option

The Alexandrina Council is recommending gassing as the best option It said corellas were damaging infrastructure and impacting residents

It said corellas were damaging infrastructure and impacting residents An animal behaviour expert says more humane solutions should be adopted

Alexandrina Council, south of Adelaide, said the population of corellas had become unmanageable in recent years, and non-lethal attempts to reduce the birds' numbers had failed.

The council has written to Environment Minister David Speirs recommending the SA Government fund a program to cull them using gas.

"We believe there's a cull required and a substantial one, and it has to be statewide. It can't just be one council doing something," Mayor Keith Parkes told ABC North and West.

"We've had a favourable response from him. Minister Speirs acknowledged it is a significant issue.

"With the gassing option, it's done very early in the morning in a remote area quickly and humanely … you can set nets over them and catch large quantities and they just gas them quickly, so it's all over quickly."

The plan has been met with a mixed response, with some commenting favourably about the need to reduce parrot populations.

"There is a massive overpopulation of these birds this year," one wrote on Facebook.

"Not only these birds but also cockatoos, which have destroyed countless items in our yards. My aerial no longer works on the roof of my house thanks to a cockatoo eating the cable."

A cull by gassing could cause a local extinction, an animal behaviour expert has said. ( Supplied: Patrickkavanagh on Flickr )

However, others have responded with outrage, including one who wrote: "This makes me so cross. They bulldoze the scrub that the birds live in and then complain because the birds search for food".

"What a ridiculous kneejerk reaction! These birds are suffering just as the rest of the state is suffering from not enough rain and lack of their normal feeding areas," another said.

That view is shared by Gisela Kaplan, an expert in animal behaviour at the University of New England.

"It's entirely inappropriate, cruel and ignorant," Professor Kaplan said of the proposal.

She said mass killing could lead to the birds disappearing in South Australia, and said bird numbers had not increased overall and that flocks were forming because of recent drought.

"These large flocks do not represent an overabundance of the species, but the sum total of all the inland corellas have flocked together in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to stay alive," she said.

"Taking the last remaining flocks of corellas and poisoning or shooting or gassing them is an absolutely reckless idea."

'Macho' solutions should be rejected, professor says

Large flocks of corellas are also creating issues in metropolitan areas, including Salisbury in Adelaide's north.

Earlier this month, a local soccer club said about 5,000 birds had stripped its playing fields of turf and had damaged its goal netting.

The Salisbury Council said it was fighting a losing battle against the birds and agreed there needed to be a statewide strategy from the SA Government.

Alexandrina Council Mayor Keith Parkes said he was not sure what gas would be used if his proposal was approved, but said previous attempts to disperse the flocks had only succeeded in "moving them onto other places which we don't consider to be the correct outcome".

"The damage they do to infrastructure is enormous. They rip up tennis courts, bowling greens," Mr Parkes said.

"They make a hell of a mess, so it's a big problem.

"We've tried shooting them, we're currently using drones and other noisemaking devices to move them on."

A mass death of corellas in Dubbo in 2014 was caused by pesticides. ( WIRES: Anna Felton )

While Professor Kaplan acknowledged the birds had become a "major problem" in parts of Australia, she firmly rejected suggestions non-lethal control methods were bound to fail.

"One single bird of prey, particularly a peregrine falcon, flying over an area with a flock of 10,000 corellas will clear those corellas within two minutes to five minutes," she said.

"What other farmers have done is encouraged birds of prey to stay on their properties by feeding them meat."

Professor Kaplan said she had been in contact with the state's Local Government Association advising non-lethal methods be favoured.

"Macho things like shooting and gassing and so forth have a short-term effect," she said.

"This problem can be solved in a very short period of time with very natural means and be permanently successful."

The SA Government and the Department for Environment and Water have been contacted for comment.