A young fallow deer that was found on the roadside beside its mother who had been killed by a car is doing well, staff at the Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital said.

The approximately one-month-old fawn was picked up by a member of the public driving back to his home in Lymington from his job in Wiltshire when he saw the young deer on the roadside beside its dead mother.

Marilyn Korkis of Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital said the higher cervine population this season has led to an increase in road traffic accidents involving deer.

She said: “There are lots of deer getting hit right now- lots and lots.

“If there are more deer about then they are going to cross major main roads and even on side roads they get hit.”

The good Samaritan looked after the deer for two-to-three days before contacting the Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital when he recognised the deer would need longer care in a more properly equipped facility.

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Marilyn said the fawn is doing well after two-to-three weeks in the hospital’s care.

She said: “She’s not even on the bottle, she laps her milk, so that’s even better. So, basically, she just- she drinks, she eats and she’s growing, so I can’t see anything wrong. At the moment, it’s all going the right way.”

Marilyn said the plan for the deer, as with most orphaned animals, is to care for her through the cold winter months and reintroduce her to the wild at the beginning of the warm season.

Marilyn said: “A lot of them would stay with their mums through the winter and she would sort of guide them when there’s tougher times to come for them weather-wise, so what I tend to do is actually keep them through to the spring, and then I let them out in the spring when everything’s fresh and green. It gives them a better chance to survive.”