A lamb abandoned and left for dead at five days old has found a new lease of life after being saved by a kind-hearted north-east couple.
Sandra and Doug Bolton found the tiny creature lying in one of their fields near some hay bales having been left there by a “heartless” individual.
They knew straight away he wasn’t one of their own because of his distinctive markings.
The Inverurie couple, who check on their own sheep numerous times a day, rescued the lamb – which has since been christened Gizmo – and took him home.
After hand-feeding him, keeping him in their own home and naming him, they’ve now decided they can’t part with Gizmo and have opted to keep him as a pet.
He is now living in one of their fields alongside his new lamb friend, who was an orphan.
Mrs Bolton said: “He would have died if we hadn’t seen him there. If not of starvation, then sheep tend to head-butt lambs that aren’t their own.
“It’s a shame because if someone said they had a lamb and didn’t know what to do, I would have helped.
“He’s doing fine now and we’re going to keep him even though we weren’t going to keep any of the boys – he follows us around like a dog.
“They know our cars as well. As soon as they see us coming they dash over.”
Many people are aware of the problems of abandoning dogs and cats, but most don’t take the idea of abandoned lambs seriously, the couple said.
After posting about Gizmo on a social media page, they said they were “disappointed” at the reaction as many people were “laughing about it” and not taking it seriously.
But they fear it could be becoming a more common occurrence.
Mr Bolton added: “It was not a mistake. We know our livestock and all of our lambs. He wasn’t one of ours.
“The main thing is that someone has been heartless enough to abandon a young animal that would have died if no one had intervened.”