Five kilometres of ripped apart books have been mysteriously strewn across Invercargill over the weekend.
Invercargill councillor Darren Ludlow told Breakfast this morning: "It's so peculiar, we've never had something like this before.
"It was spread over 5km and it happened on Saturday, then again on Sunday. They added to it so it was definitely deliberate."
Ludlow said the council was looking at installing remote controlled security cameras for the area.
"It's a beach area with sand dunes, lots of sports fields, rivers, a boat ramp, so it's not unusual to see cars coming and going. People have fly-tipped there to avoid fees."
Asked what sort of books were found, Ludlow said: "They were all old books, children's, recipe books, novels, colouring books. Everything from old cook books, nutrition books, novels, teen romance and old newsletters."
He said the council was arranging for the mess to be cleaned up, but people on a "Southland random acts of kindness" Facebook page had banded together and picked up the books.
"It saved us thousands of dollars," Ludlow said.
He added that there was "no identifying material" left on the books but the council likely wouldn't waste time trying to find out who was responsible.
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