A student wanted to help a bored leopard at a wildlife park through a long hot summer - and hit upon the idea of ice lollies made from blood.

Jessei, a 12-year-old amur leopard at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, is losing his eyesight and spends much of his time asleep or pacing in his cage.

Katie Dyke is studying for an animal science degree at Lackham College in Wiltshire and came to the park looking for ideas for her course work.

To add some excitement to Jessei's life, the 18-year-old took blood drained from the steaks fed to him every day, added water and froze it into giant ice lollies.

Miss Dyke said: "He was pacing up and down at the back of his cage. You often get it in captive cats, they do it out of boredom, so I've been trying to take his mind off it.

"We froze the diluted blood and put it in at about 9am when he's usually lethargic, and he was licking it and playing with it and really loving it."

Her new plan for keeping Jessei's mind occupied is to give him some company, and his daughter was put in the cage with him on August 13.

Louise Peat, who works at the wildlife park, said: "At 12 years old, Jessei is now quite elderly for a leopard.

"His eyesight is beginning to fail and the majority of his time is spent either sleeping or performing a new and repetitive pacing behaviour.

"With the help of Katie's study and ideas, we hope to mitigate this behaviour which often emerges in large captive predators.

"Already Jessei is showing a great deal of interest in the blood flavoured giant ice lollies that Katie has been providing for him, spending hours licking and playing with the blocks of ice, often being watched by a rather jealous crowd of hot visitors."

The amur is a rare type of leopard from Northern China and Korea.

The wildlife park is part of an international breeding programme to help save the species from extinction.

Miss Dyke, who lives in Swindon, said she would miss Jessei when she stopped her work at the park.

"I've been watching him for three weeks and I'm really fond of him," she said.

"He's lovely, and so tame I could watch him for much longer."