A RHINO who has failed to mate with his female friends for two years has been given the herbal equivalent of Viagra to put him in the mood for love.

Staff at West Midland Safari Park are keen to boost Rocky's sex drive so he will mate with two of the rhinos at the Bewdley attraction.

"He has mated with two other females here, but we're concerned that he hasn't mated with the other two," said Bob Lawrence, head warden.

"This herbal remedy is made entirely from natural ingredients and we hope it'll gee him on a bit.

"Rocky is our only male and it is essential that he starts doing the business.

"We do have a male calf, but he's too young."

Rocky, who has been at the park since 1995, has proved his prowess with two of the females by siring two calves.

Mr Lawrence said it was vital to get Rocky in the mood because of the drastically depleted numbers of all species of rhino.

"When I was at school there were a couple of hundred thousand rhino in the world," said Mr Lawrence. "Now they're endangered."

Rocky, a white back rhino, is one of only 6,000 left in the world. He has been on his treatment for a week now, but staff at the safari park are waiting to see if it will result in action.