Not-so-hungry hippo helped to eat

Chico had been refusing to eat until the puppet was used

A hippo that turned up his snout at food, has been given a helping hand to start eating again - by a glove puppet.

Chico, a pygmy hippo, worried keepers at his home in Heythrop Zoological Gardens in Oxfordshire, when he began to refuse food.

After "trying everything" to try to tempt him to eat they tried the hippo glove puppet, based on a character from a children's film "as a last resort".

Keepers said they were "extremely surprised" but pleased that it worked.

We were extremely surprised when he took a liking to Gloria and we have been using it to feed him ever since Michael Howes, head keeper

Gloria, a glove puppet based on a character in the children's film Madagascar, was given away in a supermarket promotion.

Now anyone feeding Chico has to put on the glove puppet to feed him.

Pygmy hippos need to consume one-and-a-half percent of their body weight every day to stay healthy.

In the wild they can spend up to six hours a day eating.

Head keeper at the private zoo, Michael Howes, said he was desperate to find a way to encourage Chico to start eating when he saw Gloria the Hippo being given away with washing detergent during a shopping trip.

"We had been trying everything as Chico was refusing to feed and when I saw the Madagascar hippo puppet in the supermarket I thought I'd give it a try," Mr Howes said.

"We were extremely surprised when he took a liking to Gloria and we have been using it to feed him ever since."