A grieving mother who took comfort from the sight of rabbits playing near her baby daughter's grave was horrified to see them shot to death.

Sarah Robinson was appalled to see a man killing the animals with an air rifle when she went to Ilkley Cemetery on Sunday evening.

And now officials in charge of the cemetery are warning that patrols are being stepped up to prevent any further shootings.

Distressed mourners have been calling for action from Bradford council for months as the growing community of rabbits eat their way through graveside flowers.

But Sarah, who lost her baby Sophie at 38 weeks, is appealing to others not to kill the animals but to find more humane ways of dealing with the problem.

She said: "We buried our daughter last year and it wasn't until we buried her that we realised there was a problem at the cemetery- there are loads of rabbits down there and they eat all the flowers.

"A lot of people have found it upsetting and I can understand their grievances but it has to be dealt with in an appropriate manner.

Sarah, 30, a secretary, and her husband David, 34, a construction director, found flowers that rabbits won't eat after taking advice from a florist.

Sarah said: "Most of the flowers we picked were not eaten and we had to remove them weeks later because they had died off.

"My husband and I found comfort in the thought that the rabbits were keeping our daughter company and it was very distressing to find this man shooting at them. "

"The last thing you expect when you go down to visit a grave is to find somebody shooting.

"The place is full enough of dead people without creating more distress."

She stressed: "If there is going to be a cull it should be done officially and in a safe way. This man's actions were a danger to people as well.

"If we had gone down to our daughter's grave a different way he could have been firing in our direction.

Sarah, who is expecting another baby, appealed to others to solve the rabbit problem by choosing bouquets the animals won't touch.

Meanwhile patrols have been stepped up to prevent any further shootings.

Cemetery Official John Elsbury said the council was in a difficult position because of conflicting views about the problem.

"We have rabbits in a few cemeteries and we have tried putting fencing up but they just burrow under. I can understand why people get upset but I can also understand the other side of the story when people don't want the rabbits killed," he added.

But he stressed: "Obviously we can't have people with air rifles shooting in the cemetery.

"I have informed the park rangers and we are going to do some later patrols."