Baby pygmy goat called ‘baby brother’ is being cared for by girl, 4, after he was rejected by his mother

A tiny baby pygmy goat who was rejected by his mother the moment he was born has been given a second chance after being taken in by a family. When little Bingo was born at an animal park in Scotland a few days ago he failed to form a bond with his birth mother, so park owners Craig and Kirsty Holmes decided to become his mum and dad instead. They are now hand rearing him, and are feeding him with bottles as well as helping him to walk.

Bingo was born on 16 March at Hillview Animal Park in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, and shortly afterwards Craig, aged 35, and his wife Kirsty, age 30, realised they would need to care for him themselves - much to the delight of their four-year-old daughter Alba. The two have formed a sweet bond and she even now refers to Bingo as her ‘baby brother’.

Dad-of-two Craig said: “Bingo’s mum wasn’t very maternal so we decided we would hand rear him. Alba is animal mad so she is in charge of Bingo, she is thrilled we have him in the house. She is telling everyone he is her baby brother. She loves to help with the feeding and she calls on him around the house and he’ll follow her, it’s adorable to watch.”

The family first posted about Bingo on the official Hillview Animal Park Facebook page on 18 March. They wrote: “At the beginning of the week, one of our pygmy goats gave birth to a set of twins. Unfortunately, one of them was a stillborn, and the other was very weak. We decided that to give it the best chance of survival that we would hand rear it. We don't like taking babies away from their mums to be reared and it's something we would only do as a last resort. After a few days of TLC, this little boy is growing in strength and has really found his feet.”

Bingo, who weighs just 1.5kg, sleeps in a crate in the house and goes outside for walks in the garden with the family. He isn’t house trained and so has to wear nappies when he’s playing in the house to ensure there are no accidents. Due to his small size, they are premature baby nappies.

‘Big sister’ Alba loves helping feed Bingo, who is currently having 200ml of milk five times a day, and is thrilled to have him join the family. Craig added that he can be quite noisy when he gets hungry, but Alba is always on hand to look after him. In the summer Bingo will be introduced to the other goats in the park, including three adult pygmy goats and a kid, as well as three bagot goats and two kids.

Craig said: “Once the weather is a bit nicer we will get him back outside and reintroduce him to the other goats. We will feed him until he’s about three-months-old.”

To keep up-to-date with what Bingo is up to and see more photos of him, you can follow Hillview Animal Park on Facebook.