10:28am UK, Wednesday July 06, 2005

Big cats in a Bangladesh zoo have been put on birth control after getting a bit too frisky for their carers' likes.

Hormone pills and injections will be given to the lions and tigers following a series of unplanned births.

Too much mating going on

Around 36 of the predators are living in an enclosure only meant for 16.

Chiefs at Mirpur zoo in the capital Dhaka, said they did want to damage the endangered animals' sexual desire, only stifle it for a while.

Head of the facility, Mafizur Rahman, said: "The number of lions and tigers has been proliferating for some years now.

"Now we've decided to introduce birth control measures for them as we don't have any more room left to house them."

Their reproduction has also put an immense strain on the zoo's finances, with more than half the money for the whole food budget going on them.

Chief vet Selim Iqbal said hormone pills and injections would be used to reduce inbreeding and unplanned births.

He said: "We don't want to harm their sexual desire, nor do we want to introduce any permanent birth control measures as we want to maintain their ability to breed later."