A newborn fawn rejected at birth has been inseparable from a keeper at an animal park... as she thinks he is her mother.

Bonnie was born at Wildwood Wildlife Park, located between Herne Bay and Canterbury, three weeks ago.

But the black fallow fawn's mother struggled to bond with her - so she has been hand-reared by the keepers ever since.

With previous newborns, the team at Wildwood have left the mothers to look after and rear their offspring. But sadly Bonnie's mum didn't show any interest in her.

A few hours after she was born, the fawn went for a walk around the paddock looking for her mother.

Bonnie was found wandering around looking lost so the keepers put her back in the house hoping her mother would come back. But her mum did not return and they had to step in.

And from that moment on Bonnie decided keeper Stewart Cuthbert, known as Stu, was her mother and they have been inseparable ever since.

“I managed to give Bonnie her first bottle and started doing the day feeds," he said.

"My colleague Gary has the lovely job of doing the night feeds. His daughter actually chose Bonnie’s name.

"However, she seems to think I'm her mum and has even been known to turn her nose up when someone else tries to feed her."

Visitors to the wildlife park have been able to glimpse Bonnie loyally trotting along behind Stu as he takes her on a her daily walk, panicking if she loses sight of him for just a second.

Bonnie’s mother reared her first fawn last year, so it was a surprise to the Wildwood team that she rejected Bonnie.

Stu explained: "For some reason she didn’t get the mother-fawn bond that they normally do where they clean them up. She just wasn’t too sure of her.

"Normally with the deer species they’ll have the young and set them down somewhere and go back and feed but on this occasion mum wasn’t showing any interest in her at all - that’s why we stepped in and decided it was time to give her a bottle. And she’s followed me ever since.”

Bonnie will be on a bottle for up to about three months - and the keepers will then gradually reduce her feeds and reintroduce her into the herd.

Wildwood has four other hand-reared animals in the paddock and the hoof stock keepers are confident they can work with Bonnie to successfully get her back into the group.

Read more: All the latest news from Herne Bay