It was a dog's dream day out - thousands of rabbits there for the taking along with several hundred hares and assorted other tasty treats.
The haul displayed in Alexandra's Pioneer Park within sniffing distance of many dogs and hundreds of spectators was from the 2015 Great Easter Bunny Hunt and included 8439 rabbits, 468 hares, 44 possums and 44 stoats as well as a few wild goats and turkeys.
Twenty-four teams from all around the country entered the hunting contest, which was staged in Central Otago, and the "spoils'' from the 24-hour hunt were laid out in neat rows for counting by noon today.
The rabbit tally was up on last year's total of 7478 and a 12-person team called Down South, made up of two-thirds Central Southland people and one-third Ida Valley residents, took the top honours. The team shot 876 rabbits on a Moa Creek property.
Team captain Brett Middleton, of Hokonui, said the crew also added two possums, five ferrets and four goats to the "mix''. It was the fifth year the team had contested the event and it found "plenty of rabbits'' on the block it was allocated in the draw 24 hours earlier, he said.
Over 24 years, the event has culled a total of 287,679 rabbits from Central Otago farmland.
The event is run by the Alexandra Lions Club, which will donate this year's proceeds to the Otago Rescue Helicopter Trust.
After the carcasses had been counted, they were picked up by the Alexandra Scout Group to be composted in a pit on a rural property.
Some were also collected by dog owners as pet food.
