A WILD deer that was rescued from the side of a road has learnt how to use a dog flap thanks to the love and attention of a grandfather from Malmesbury.

Real life Doctor Dolittle John Slater discovered the fawn lying in a pool of blood while he was driving home but when he stopped, a little squeak caught his attention.

The Muntjac deer, who has been named Strawberry after her favourite snack, now lives alongside the 63-year-old’s two dogs, pony, and retired racing pigeon in Parklands.

The tame deer, who is now three-years-old, has a shed in the garden where she sleeps but in the winter, she is allowed to bed down on a blanket in the kitchen.

Just like the rest of his pets, Strawberry can come and go as she likes and will often sit down and watch TV with her rescuer.

“If I’m sitting at the kitchen table watching telly she will chew my elbow until I start stroking her. When she’s out in the garden she’s very timid and she will follow me around.

“I wouldn’t take her out anywhere because if she escaped I’d never get her back.”

The fawn was only a couple of months old when she was rescued and Mr Slater stocked up on booked to help educate himself about her care.

Strawberry now lives on a diet of peaches, rose petals, leafy greens, dandelions and strawberries especially planted for her to graze on.

She now receives regular visits from his four grandchildren and has even won over Mr Slater’s 24-year-old son Tom.

He added: “I wish if you hit an animal you had to stop and check it was dead. If I could afford it and I had more money and more land, I’d have a menagerie.

“I don’t know anyone else who’s got a deer as a pet. I’ve got the two dogs but she’s something different.

“I used to have a fox that would come round and I’d feed it but Strawberry wouldn’t be able to outrun it.

“It was luck, sheer luck, that I heard that tiny little squeak. I’m so glad I went back.”

Muntjac numbers have soared in recent years and there are now 150,000 in the UK. They were originally imported from China in the 1900s to grace the Duke of Bedford's estate at Woburn Abbey.