Visitors to a graveyard have been faced with the grim sight of human bones lying exposed on the grass.
Leg, arm and back bones, as well as part of a skull, have been unearthed from lairs in the old section of Kilnaughton Cemetery, near Port Ellen, on the isle of Islay.
Argyll and Bute Council is being urged to take prompt action after further
inspection revealed tell tale holes where rabbits have been burrowing under the gravestones
Douglas Johnston-Smith, 40, of Prestonpans, had been visiting the graves of his great grandparents, in the newer part of the cemetery, when he accidentally made the grim discovery of bones on the grass in the older section.
He said the bones were near the graves of early nineteenth century whisky managers, priests and shopkeepers.
Mr Johnstone-Smith, who visited the cemetery with his wife and seven year old son, said: "There were human
leg bones, arms and vertebrae and the top of thigh bones and the frontal section of a skull. I did my best to rebury
the bones in a shallow pit.
"There is a serious rabbit problem there. When we arrived they were everywhere."
Alastair Redman, Vice Chairman of Islay Community Council, said: "This is terrible, It is disrespectful of the dead.
"It is also not good for our island image, the council should be doing more to fix this problem. There does not seem to be any mechanism in place to check the graves and this is something the council has to look at. It's unacceptable, they need to do something to control the rabbit population."
Florence Grey, the postmistress at Port Ellen Post Office, whose late husband is buried in the graveyard, said:
"My husband is down there and I wouldn't like to see his bones dug up."
Mrs Grey added:"I know that generally speaking we have had a problem for years, there are rabbits everywhere.
The rabbits are an ongoing problem because it is down by the machair, but it's nature, it's a sandy soil and it's easy for
them to dig. You wish it didn't happen, but what can they do about it?"
A spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council said: "This issue appears to have been caused by wild rabbits digging into the lairs.
We are currently exploring the best options to address this issue as soon as possible.’’
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