When three lions were given a barrel full of meat at feeding time at a Netherlands zoo, one of them felt the need to stick his head all the way into the barrel to stop the other two getting any of his lunch.

Unfortunately for the greedy big cat, his head became stuck in the barrel and he was unable to escape.

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Zoo keepers use barrels as a way to stimulate the lions and make gathering food more challenging, like in the wild.

After a while this king of the jungle realised he was been defeated by a plastic barrel and, fed-up, he lies down to sulk in the middle of the grass.

While the lion did appear to become distressed, zoo keepers seemed unfazed by the situation and given the barrel had a hole at each end, they knew the lion was at no risk of suffocating.

A veterinarian anaesthetised the sorry lion and the barrel was cut off after closing time.

The video maker said the lion was uninjured and up and about soon afterwards.

Watch the full video: