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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
National
Joshua Hartley

Lion keeper Reece Oliver looking to make Strelley Village enclosure public in future as celebrity filming takes place

Strelley lionkeeper Reece Oliver says he hopes to open his big cat enclosure to the public in the future as he spoke about recent filming with his latest celebrity guest.

Reece Oliver, who looks after a collection of exotic animals including two lions, a puma and a tapir, recently finished a 1,000 square-metre extension to his enclosure in Strelley Village.

Last week, the 30-year-old took part in some filming with former footballer and social media personality Kevin Stephens, otherwise known as Stevo the Madman.

And Mr Oliver said on certain days in the future he would like to welcome the public to have a look at the enclosure.

"Hopefully moving forward we are looking to do charity-type days for people and be able to give the public a further look behind the scenes into the hands-on aspect of their care," he said.

"We get inundated with people all the time asking to come here to film.

"I'm doing a lot of work with various different people and we're trying to work with others to raise awareness for lions and the conservation of them."

Reece Oliver pictured with lions Rora and Rocky. (Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post)

Numerous high-profile journalists have visited Mr Oliver's enclosure, including Stacey Dooley and Ross Kemp, spurred on in part due to the success of Netflix's Tiger King documentary series.

Nottinghamshire Live was previously given an exclusive look inside the newly extended enclosure after it was approved at a Broxtowe Borough Council planning meeting last year.

Speaking about the most recent filming visit, Mr Oliver said: "With Stevo, we mostly talked about the lions and we had a talk about different things for social media.

"We spoke about why we do what we do and where the animals came from, giving people who are speculating over the enclosure a light-hearted look into a serious topic."

The extended enclosure. (Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post)

Mr Oliver's new extension cost £30,000 more than the initial 480 square-metre enclosure built to house lion Rocky, lioness Rora and Canadian puma Rogue.

Both Rocky and Rora were rescued from captivity in Eastern Europe and Mr Oliver says they have the best life he can give them.

The enclosure in Strelley is now believed to rival some of Britain's largest zoo lion enclosures and the old part will now undergo refurbishment.

Mr Oliver added: "People are captivated with big cats and we want to raise awareness, the day's filming with Stevo will give people an insight into what we do.

"It is taken quite seriously but this latest filming is a bit more fun and showing people how the animals are fed, it's quite a fun watch.

"Stevo was wowed by it and thought it was a lot larger than others he had seen before."

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