Southland Museum is ramping up its pest control after a rat broke into an enclosure and ate one of the museum's resident tuatara.
The rogue rat scaled a two-metre pipe and climbed through an air vent to kill the 30-year-old tuatara.
A rat has been caught and is awaiting autopsy in a freezer, but traps have been laid in case there are more.
Pete Thompson is from the Invercargill City Council.
