An Auckland woman has orchestrated a hilarious prank which gripped the community of Devonport this morning.
Jane Weekes posted a video to a Devonport Facebook page and other crime watch pages this morning about her bike being "stolen" by none-other than the Easter Bunny.
She posted CCTV of the "crime" and a map, coincidentally in the shape of a bunny head, online to map out the bunny's likely path.
Locals took to their own bikes and lined the streets to help in the search of the rogue bunny, with even police in tow as an escort.
Ms Weekes, still in character, told 1 NEWS it was concerning people were waving and laughing and not taking the theft seriously.
But after confessing it was all a joke in good fun and Easter spirit, Ms Weekes, who is a counsellor, said it was important to raise spirits during the coronavirus lockdown.
"It's definitely a really different situation," she said. "People are worried about their income and livelihoods, let alone their health."
Ms Weekes became a counsellor after she and her husband Martin lost their toddler triplets - Lillie, Jackson and Willsher - in a mall fire in Doha, Qatar in 2012.
She said she wanted people to not feel alone during this isolating time.
"It was a case of you don't always have to be positive, but you can give yourself a break," she said.
Originally she wanted to do an egg dropoff, but with that against the rules of the lockdown, the Easter Bunny crime watch popped to mind.
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