An Amur Tiger at Dartmoor Zoo has been having barrels of fun with a new donated gift.

Dragan the tiger has been given a recycled olive barrel to keep him mentally and physically stimulated, as well as keeping the 180kg tiger fit and active.

The donation comes as part of a new partnership with Devon Contract Waste (DCW) who first look to repurpose and reuse unwanted items before recycling.

In this case, DCW asked another customer, Olives Et Al, a Dorset based, British Artisan Olive company to consider an interesting alternative to recycling for their olive barrels – a new lease of life as a big cat’s play toy

Stuart Franklin, Dartmoor Zoo’s Maintenance Manager, said: “When you work closely with endangered species, you become keenly aware of how negatively man’s economic activities can impact on every ecosystem. It is hugely important to get multiple uses out of every resource, and this plays a fundamental role in our green initiatives on site. This was the driving factor behind implementing our partnership with DCW.”

A resident of Dartmoor Zoo since June 2016, Dragan is an incredibly well known and much-loved member of Dartmoor Zoo.

With less than 500 Amur Tigers left in the wild, the IUCN Red List considered this species Endangered.

Lewis Slayden, Olives Et Al’s Head of Business Development,said: “I think it’s the first time we’ve seen our old barrels repurposed like this – makes a change from water butts and the team here are all happy to know some of our old barrels are going to a really good use.”

Giles Henschel, Olives Et Al’s Co-Founder, said: “Olive barrels are about the same size as wild boar or small deer which are common prey for tigers, they’re very solid and bouncy and they have similar colourings to themselves. Besides, they still smell of olives which will be a very interesting scent for a tiger, that’s for sure!”