Devon zoo's abandoned meerkat 'doing well'

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Simples gets some home comforts

A meerkat abandoned by her mother at a Devon zoo and left for dead in freezing weather has made a very good recovery, staff say.

Named Simples, after a character in a television advert, she weighed just 18g (0.6oz) and was the size of a human thumb when she was born at Exmoor Zoo.

Simples is the only survivor of three pups abandoned by their mother during freezing weather in February.

She will be found a mate when she is older, the zoo said.

The zoo's Lynn Reynolds, who has reared Simples, said that she had built up a healthy appetite.

She said: "She eats chicken, mincemeat, scrambled egg, hard-boiled egg, some fruit and she loves her insects."

The insects include about 14 giant mealworms a day, plus locusts and crickets.