A Nottinghamshire Lion keeper has spoken of his shock after he learnt that two cubs had been born at his village enclosure. Reece Oliver, 31, was playing a game of football on March 1, when he was interrupted by the news that two cubs had just been born at his Strelley enclosure.
Reece Oliver, who looks after two lions, Rocky and Rora, said that the birth of two female cubs, who have been named Ruby and Rosie, was a "big surprise". "It was a big surprise, it was a pleasant one but we weren't expecting or hoping for it.
We had our suspicions but we weren't sure whether she was, and we definitely didn't think it would happen as soon as it did," Mr Oliver said. "There were signs of it but we weren't fully believing that it was happening, it's hard to tell without going in and scanning her.
"I was actually out playing football and one of the keepers at the park rang me and said 'there's two babies that have just appeared', the male with sat with one of them and the other one had just been born. So after that it was all hands on deck, we got the male out and monitored them very closely".
She [Rora] is a hand reared Lion and it's very difficult sometimes for hand reared animals to take naturally to motherhood, but she's been fantastic and we've been doing visual and physical checks to help. Both Rocky and Rora were rescued from captivity in Eastern Europe and Mr Oliver says they have the best life he can give them. He also houses a puma, squirrel monkeys., and a tapir at the facility.
The recent 1,000 square-metre extension cost £30,000 more than the initial 480 square-metre enclosure built to house lion Rocky, lioness Rora and Canadian puma Rogue. The enclosure in Strelley is now believed to rival some of Britain's largest zoo lion enclosures.
Mr Oliver added: "We just built a new enclosure and we are hoping to bring them up as a pride. At the moment we have separated the male from the female and Rora is looking after them now and we will slowly introduce them together in a safe and secure way.
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"The birth is a great landmark for this conservation facility and we are very happy that it has happened, it is something we are very proud of. Getting a wild animal to breed in a captive environment is great - we're not actively trying to breed lions and we do have contraception that has seemed to have failed unfortunately, but we need to give them the best life.
"That's not to say we won't look at possible re-wilding, there's many possibilities. We've got to think the next steps through now in terms of relocating too."
Mr Oliver had previously outlined his hopes to open his big cat enclosure to the public in the future. After filming with former footballer and social media personality Kevin Stephens in February he said that he was looking to welcome the public to the enclosure on certain days to learn about the animals.
