A DOOR camera captured the sickening moment a gardener shredded a bird alive before stamping on its mutilated body and dumping it in a bin.
The disturbing footage shows the man walking around holding a strimmer before he notices a plover relaxing nearby and begins to approach.
Startled, and as a last ditch attempt at survival the bird tries to puff out its feathers to defend itself - but it's too late.
The man swings the blade across the creature and it becomes trapped in the mechanism sending a plume of feathers into the air.
The helpless animal is torn to shreds and lays in a mangled heap on the ground before the gardener stamps on it - appearing to end its suffering.
He then picks up the bird's body and chucks it in the trash and returns to the scene to blast away any remaining feathers.
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The resident who posted the footage online has contacted the RSPCA.
The owner of the New South Wales property said he had warned the gardener about the plover, which had been nesting, before work began on November 14 last year.
He wrote: "He messaged to say he was coming the next day and we told him that there was a plover nesting there and to not do that side."
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is investigating.
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A spokesman said: "The NPWS is aware of this incident and has been working with the RSPCA on the criminal investigation."
"The online footage is shocking and extremely upsetting."
Harming a native animal is an offence which carries a maximum penalty of a £11,050 ($14,000).
Plovers are large common birds native to Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea and are commonly found on the shores of swamps and lakes.
It comes as a cruel hunter allegedly paraded a tortured wolf around a bar before he took it outside and killed it with his gun.
The terrified creature appears in a sickening image cowering with sunken eyes and its mouth taped tightly shut.
Cody Roberts, 42, was fined $250 for being in possession of the live wolf but it was not illegal to kill it, sparking outrage from animal rights activists.
Roberts posed with the traumatised animal, flashing a toothy grin while hooking his arm around its neck and raising a can of beer.
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The wolf was already injured before Roberts ran it over with a snowmobile.
He reportedly dragged it through the Green River Bar as regulars swilled beer before taking it behind the bar, torturing it and killing it.