After an open-air museum took in an orphaned fallow deer, the little thing fell head over hooves for the owner’s 11-month-old daughter.
The deer, named Ziggy, was rescued and taken in by Jeremy Goldsmith who runs Mountfitchet Castle, a Norman castle and museum.
Goldsmith and the staff at Mountfitchet care for a variety of orphaned animals, and it took just a few hours for Ziggy to settle into her new environment.
The fawn, believed to be a two-month-old, was spotted on the side of a road near the castle in Essex after its mother was hit by a car. A passer-by called Mountfitchet Castle who thankfully took in the deer and gave it a warm shed to sleep in.
After settling in, it wasn’t long before Goldsmith found that the fawn had taken a peculiar liking to his daughter. Now, three times a day Jeremy goes to the barn to feed the fawn and takes young Isabella with him.
The two spend hours together and Isabella loves to pet and kiss Ziggy. The castle already has a herd of five fallow deer, and the deer will spend the rest of its life well-fed and with company.
“We can’t release her back to the wild now, as she would be too tame and not at all scared of people,” said Goldsmith.
“We’re an animal-loving family. I was brought up in an animal-loving family and I did the same for my daughter. It’s just so natural, they spend hours kissing and [petting] each other. There’s no fear like you would expect there to be,” he added.
