Orphaned rescue deer becomes best friends with toddler who spends hours playing with him
An orphaned baby deer has become best friends with its caretaker’s baby.
The deer, named Ziggy, was rescued and taken in by Jeremy Goldsmith, who runs Mountfitchet Castle, a Norman castle and museum.
The fawn, believed to be two months old, was spotted on the side of a road in Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex, after his mother was hit by a car.
A passerby named Mountfitchet Castle who gratefully took the deer in and gave it a warm shed to sleep in.
Within a few hours, Ziggy has adjusted to her new surroundings and has even become best friends with Jeremy’s daughter, eleven-month-old Isabella.
An orphaned baby deer rescued in Essex has become best friends with his caretaker’s baby, Isabella
The fawn, believed to be two months old, was spotted on the side of a road in Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex after his mother was hit by a car
Three times a day, Jeremy goes to the stable to feed the fawn and takes young Isabella with him.
The two spend hours together and Isabella loves petting and kissing Ziggy.
Jeremy, 56, said: ‘We are an animal-loving family. I grew up in an animal loving family and I did the same for my daughter.
‘It’s so natural, they kiss and caress each other for hours. There is no fear as you would expect.’
Like Ziggy, the castle already has a herd of five fallow deer, and the deer will spend the rest of their lives well fed and in company.
Jeremy explained, “(Ziggy) is doing well now and being looked after by the staff.
“We can’t release her into the wild now because she would be too tame and not afraid of people at all.”
It is not the first time that a young animal befriends one of the animals.
In 2021, Stephanie Brown was shocked to find her son Dominic, four, and a baby deer he’d befriended in the nearby woods on the porch during a family vacation at the Massanutten resort in Virginia.
The mother managed to snap a photo of the unique moment and share it on Facebook, where it quickly went viral. ABC 8 News – WRIC reported.
A passerby named Mountfitchet Castle who gratefully took the deer in and gave it a warm shed to sleep in
Three times a day Jeremy goes to the barn to feed the fawn and takes young Isabella along – and she enjoys kisses and cuddles with the animal
The two spend hours together and Isabella loves to pet and kiss Ziggy, who is believed to be only one month old
People were impressed by how comfortable the deer felt in the presence of the four-year-old.
Stephanie explained that the family was packing to leave the Massanutten resort and head back home to Ragged Point Beach in Virginia when Dominic showed up with his new friend.
Shocked mother Stephanie figured out what to do and snapped a few photos of the partners in crime.
The photo, which was shared on Facebook and has since garnered more than 16,000 likes and nearly 20,000 shares, shows Dominic in his Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer pajamas, wearing winter boots next to the baby deer on the vacation rental porch.
The pair seemed perfectly at ease with each other, and the fawn didn’t seem in a hurry to get back to the woods as he peered curiously at Stephanie.
Stephanie told ABC, “I was in shock. I was like, ‘No way. My mind is playing games with me.”
“It wasn’t anything strange to him, it was so weird.”
Jeremy said the family is very “animal-loving” and Isabella is being bought up to take care of all the creatures
Like Ziggy, the castle already has a herd of five fallow deer, and the deer will spend the rest of its life well fed and in company
The 11-month-old baby enjoys plenty of playtime kissing and cuddling with the playful baby deer (photo, Isabella)
The animal can now no longer be released into the wild because she is ‘too tame’ and ‘not afraid of people at all’
The quick-thinking mother quickly grabbed her phone to capture the unique moment.
“They were in perfect sync,” Stephanie said, explaining that the deer held its head in the same direction as Dominic as she took photos.
Dominic named his new friend Flash after the DC Comics superhero.
When the impromptu photo shoot was over, the mother explained that she asked Dominic to walk his friend back to the woods so that his own mother could find him.