Tigers are being forced to make a leap for their lunch at the Howletts Wild Animal Park, thanks to a new feeding contraption.
Keepers and research officers at the park, on the outskirts of Canterbury, invented a new feeding system for the big cats because they wanted to encourage more natural behaviour.
A pole with a pulley system has been introduced to force the tigers to leap up in order to get hold of their meat.
Mark Kingston Jones, research and enrichment supervisor at the park, explained: “This feed pole was built in collaboration between the carnivore section and the education team as an enrichment tool to encourage stamina in the tigers and stimulate muscle development and bone strength.”
He said pole feeders had been used at animal parks in the past but this one was different because it used a pulley system.
Animal director Neil Spooner said: “The feed pole is proving very effective, although tigers infrequently climb trees in the wild, the leaping action that they perform to grab and wrestle the meat replicates the effort of pulling down prey using similar muscles.
“We are gradually increasing the height of the meat to build up the tigers’ stamina.
“Enrichment like this is so important for our animals, not only does it stimulate different senses for them and provide interesting challenges it also helps to keep them healthy and in tip top condition.”
Staff had been concerned that the tigers could develop arthritis from a young age, which can be common among big cats in captivity, unless they were encouraged to improve their muscle development in this way.