A pesky black rabbit has been munching its way through some of the tastier plant life and causing significant damage, garden information services officer Clare Fraser said.
"It’s caused real problems.
"He’s nibbled the tops of the bluebells off in the rhododendron dell and dug down into the roots of plants, as well."
The rabbit was believed to be a Glenleith resident’s missing pet, so rather than "go all Elmer Fudd" and shoot it, staff built a trap out of wire-netting and spent the past week trying to catch it.
"Normally, the responsibility is for the owner to catch it," Ms Fraser said.
"This time, because the rabbit was making itself at home and using the place as a pantry, we helped the owner.
"It was behaving quite differently to wild rabbits, too.
"People would come up on it and nearly catch it because it was tame and used to people, but then at the last minute it would bounce away."
Despite numerous sightings of the black rabbit, it proved difficult to catch, but on Tuesday the trap was triggered. Unfortunately, the rabbit caught was not the missing Glenleith pet, which is still at large. The mystery rabbit is now at the SPCA. An SPCA Otago spokeswoman said the rabbit would be kept for a week in the hope its owner could be found.
If not, it would be microchipped, vaccinated and put up for adoption.
