Rangitīkei District Council is preparing to undertake a rabbit cull at the Taihape Cemetery, after ongoing problems with damage to lawns, graves and headstones.
Photo: Supplied / DoC
Contractors are being called in to shoot the rabbits.
The cull will start towards the end of January.
The council is sending out letters and setting up signs to warn cemetery visitors.
Rangitīkei mayor Andy Watson said the cull would help protect the cemetery's historic graves, some of which dated back to 1880.
"So the last couple of years, periodically, we have an issue with rabbit population in particular at the Taihape Cemetery.
"There's potential for them to dig under gravestones and into graves. They don't tend to get down to great depth but we don't want to take that risk so we need to find some way of [culling]."