diff --git a/app/jobs/delete_gbif_events_job.rb b/app/jobs/delete_gbif_events_job.rb
index 1c7777a84..d40fa913b 100644
--- a/app/jobs/delete_gbif_events_job.rb
+++ b/app/jobs/delete_gbif_events_job.rb
@@ -5,12 +5,7 @@ class DeleteGbifEventsJob < ApplicationJob
 
   def perform(ids, options = {})
     label = options[:label]
-    index = ENV["INDEX"]
-
-    if index.blank?
-      Rails.logger.error("#{label}: ENV['INDEX'] must be provided")
-      return
-    end
+    index = options[:index]
 
     # delete event records from mysql
     sql = ActiveRecord::Base.sanitize_sql_array(["DELETE FROM events WHERE id IN (?)", ids])
diff --git a/app/models/event.rb b/app/models/event.rb
index a8cae10b6..de47a0ef3 100644
--- a/app/models/event.rb
+++ b/app/models/event.rb
@@ -887,11 +887,13 @@ def self.loop_through_gbif_events(options)
     label = options[:label] || ""
     job_name = options[:job_name] || ""
     query = options[:query].presence
+    delete_count = 0
+    max_delete_count = options[:max_delete_count]
 
     response = Event.query(query, filter.merge(page: { size: 1, cursor: [] }))
 
     if response.size.positive?
-      while response.size.positive?
+      while response.size.positive? && delete_count < max_delete_count
         response = Event.query(query, filter.merge(page: { size: size, cursor: cursor }))
 
         break unless response.size.positive?
@@ -905,6 +907,8 @@ def self.loop_through_gbif_events(options)
         ids = response.results.map(&:_id).uniq
 
         Object.const_get(job_name).perform_later(ids, options)
+
+        delete_count += response.size
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/lib/tasks/event.rake b/lib/tasks/event.rake
index dd459ca21..65430422b 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/event.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/event.rake
@@ -87,14 +87,30 @@ end
 namespace :gbif_events do
   desc "delete gbif events"
   task delete_gbif_events: :environment do
+    index = ENV["INDEX"]
+
+    if index.blank?
+      Rails.logger.error("You must provide an INDEX environment variable")
+      exit
+    end
+
+    max_delete_count = ENV["MAX_DELETE_COUNT"]
+
+    if max_delete_count.blank?
+      Rails.logger.error("You must provide an MAX_DELETE_COUNT environment variable")
+      exit
+    end
+
     options = {
-      size: 1000,
+      size: 2,
       from_id: (ENV["FROM_ID"] || Event.minimum(:id)).to_i,
       until_id: (ENV["UNTIL_ID"] || Event.maximum(:id)).to_i,
       filter: {},
       query: "+subj.registrantId:datacite.gbif.gbif +relation_type_id:references -source_doi:(\"10.15468/QJGWBA\" OR \"10.35035/GDWQ-3V93\" OR \"10.15469/3XSWXB\" OR \"10.15469/UBP6QO\" OR \"10.35000/TEDB-QD70\" OR \"10.15469/2YMQOZ\")",
+      job_name: "DeleteGbifEventsJob",
       label: "gbif_event_cleanup_#{Time.now.utc.strftime("%d%m%Y%H%M%S")}",
-      job_name: "DeleteGbifEventsJob"
+      max_delete_count: max_delete_count.to_i,
+      index: index
     }
 
     Event.loop_through_gbif_events(options)