Fawn hand-reared by family - and becomes best friend to two dogs

A baby deer hand-reared by an animal rescuer after moving in with his family is best friends with his two dogs - even answering to her name.

Milly the fawn was ''mistakenly'' rescued from the wild when she was less than 24 hours old.

A walker thought she had been abandoned in the long grass by a walker who took her to a vets in Moretonhampstead, Devon.

Because she had been in contact with a human the vets believed the fawn's mother would not take her back - so rang local animal rescuer Steve Hopper.

Now a year later Steve, 65, has hand-reared young Milly with the help of his two German Shepherds - who have taken to her like family.

She plays with the two German Shepherd Bear and Fox like siblings.

Steve says she will come by her name when she is called - often when she knows there is a chocolate biscuit waiting for her.

Steve, a former police sergeant at Devon and Cornwall Police who has been an animal rescuer for 40 years, said: "Milly is pretty unique.

"I love the day-to-day contact with her - firstly the fact she survived was an achievement.

'Now part of the joy I get is seeing the reaction of people who meet her, in particular with the dogs, she just throws herself into them and that's the bit that really amuses me.

"It's something so unexpected but she doesn't care - she just plays and they play with her.

"She is part of the family - the shepherds took to her from the moment she came to the door and Milly actively plays with them.

"They are often all in the pen together, she will groom them, they will groom her - she'll headbutt them, they run around like kids - they just play.

"She's still young, so how long she'll carry on that behaviour I don't know, but she interacts with them and me."

Steve explains how normally fawn follow their mothers around to learn and adopt their behaviours.

But because Milly has had Steve and his dogs as 'parents' she has followed their patterns of behaviour.

Steve has three other bucks in his care, and even though he has introduced Milly to them many times, he says she shows 'no interest' compared to him and the dogs.

He explains how the way in which Milly came into the care of Steve is something he admits 'never should have happened'.

He explained: "She was a new born when she was found: still sticky and mucky, with her umbilical chord still wet and soft - she was a new born little fawn - and usually deers don't do very well when they have been hurt or taken away from their mothers.

"She should have been left alone as it's all about balance.

"Fawns won't move when they are very young, so she never should have been picked up but the vets didn't have much experience, so they rung me.

"I have been around animals all my life, but this was a crash course on the internet for me as this was the first time I had a baby fawn in my care."