THE giant cats of Longleat have been given their very own scratch post to try to stop them destroying the park's oak trees.

The four-metre tall post, wrapped in 80 metres of rope, has been positioned in the second of the safari park's three big cat enclosures, which is home to a pride of seven adult lions.

Deputy head keeper, Ian Turner, said: "It is basically a scaled-up version of the scratch posts you see for sale in pet shops.

"The only difference is ours is 12 feet tall, needs to be able to withstand the attentions of a quarter of a tonne of lion and it doesn't have any of those fluffy pink balls hanging off it.

"We've sited the post in an area which we know the lions use a lot and we're hoping that their natural curiosity will persuade them to try it out."