The statue, a playground attraction at the Oamaru Public Gardens, was vandalised at the weekend with black spray paint on Humpty Dumpty’s face.
Waitaki District Council recreation manager Erik van der Spek said vandalism was always disappointing and it had been reported to police.
"Our public gardens are recognised as gardens of national significance and a wonderful asset for our community that we are lucky to have," Mr van der Spek said.
"It is a shame that some members of our community fail to appreciate the nice things our community has, and that we must spend ratepayers’ money fixing this damage rather [than] making other improvements to our gardens."
The paint was unable to be removed and Humpty Dumpty will need to be repainted.
"We are unsure at this stage when this will be done, but will try to get it completed as soon as we can."
While there had been no other vandalism to the gardens during the weekend, there had been ongoing issues with the gardens’ Oamaru stone pandas.
The two pandas, who live in the Chinese Garden section, had their ears broken and stolen on April 12, May 16 and again on July 25.
"The continued damage to the panda ears has been frustrating," he said.
