Gore's iconic brown trout statue and welcome sign have been defaced, with Greenpeace claiming responsibility.

Greenpeace said it was a way of highlighting Gore's drinking water crisis, but Federated Farmers are labelling the stunt as "vandalism".

Greenpeace Aotearoa gave the town's brown trout statue cartoon-style crosses for eyes and rebranded the sign to read 'Welcome to Gore - where dirty dairy wrecked the water' on Tuesday night.

In response, Federated Farmers labelled Greenpeace "extreme" and the stunt "vandalism" as it reiterated its call for the group to be stripped of its charitable status.

Police said they would not be taking any further action as the protest signs had been removed and there was no permanent damage.

Last Friday, local residents were told not to drink the tap water after high levels of nitrate were found in the water supply.

The notice was lifted on Monday evening.

Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe said Gore's giant brown trout statue was now a beacon of the industry's pollution of drinking water and levels of nitrate contamination had worsened since the group offered free nitrate tests to Gore residents two years ago.

"This problem isn't going to go away simply by diluting the water - for many rural communities, nitrate contamination will get worse unless action is taken to address the source of the pollution: the intensive dairy industry," he said.

Greenpeace was calling for the government to scrap its proposed changes to freshwater management and standards, saying they would weaken freshwater protections and make freshwater pollution worse.

Federated Farmers said the vandalism was a shameless attempt to divide the rural community and spread "anti-farm propaganda".

It made a similar call in April after the group occupied part of Port Taranaki to protest the use of palm kernel.

Southland Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick said it was "a total abuse of charitable status" and it was the latest illegal publicity stunt from the group.

"These activists are total cowards who are slinking around in the shadows vandalising property under the cover of darkness," Herrick said.

"There's a reason they've done this at night. They knew it was dodgy behaviour - and that they'd never get away with it in Gore during daylight hours. We're a tight-knit community down here in Southland. Farming plays a huge role in not only our local economy, but in our social fabric too."

Federated Farmers lodged a formal complaint with Charities Services in April and asked for the existing complaint to be acted upon decisively.

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