Antelope calls spare room 'home'

Sultana sleeps in the spare room at Emma Gatcliffe's home in Manchester

A rare baby antelope spends her days at a safari park on Merseyside but calls a spare room in Greater Manchester home after being abandoned by her mother.

Sultana, a Sitatunga antelope, was born at Knowsley Safari Park but is being cared for by head keeper Emma Gatcliffe, at her home in Whitefield.

After a four-hour feed, Sultana plays with Miss Gatcliffe's poodle, watches TV and sleeps in the spare bedroom.

The animal was rescued by staff at the park after a tip-off from a visitor.

'Second chance'

The visitor saw a group of wildebeest acting aggressively towards the small antelope after she wandered over to their group when her mother abandoned her.

David Ross, safari park general manager, said: "Our policy is usually to let nature take its course and we regard hand rearing as very much a last resort.

"However, on this occasion, the baby antelope was obviously not going to make it without our help so we had no choice but to give her a second chance."

Since then, Miss Gatcliffe has been taking Sultana home every night in a dog carrier in her car.

'Fascinated'

Miss Gatcliffe ,30, said: "This arrangement has been working very well for the last few weeks, although it hasn't done wonders for my bedroom carpet.

"All our friends and neighbours are fascinated by her."

The safari park soon hopes to integrate Sultana back into the antelope heard and later use her to help breed.

Mr Ross said when the interval between feeds becomes longer, the fawn will eventually be able to stay at the park overnight and the aim then will be to reintegrate her into the herd at the earliest opportunity.

Sitatunga antelopes, which are an endangered species, come from central Africa where they are mainly found in the Congo, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya.