RUPERT the lamb, who was rescued by a kind-hearted animal rights campaigner, faces a happy and healthy life in Cumbria.

Carol Duggan tearfully said goodbye to the week-old baby after spending more than a week nursing it back to health.

He was given to Carol by a farmer's wife when she attended a recent demonstration at Gisburn Auction Mart.

She rushed him to a vet and discovered he couldn't stand up, was completely dehydrated and had been brutally neutered with a rubber band.

Carol, of Cardigan Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, nursed her tiny charge to health with three-hourly feeds - waking up during the night to check he was okay - until he was fit enough to make the long journey to his new home in Cumbria.

She said: "I was working full time and popping home during the day to feed him. It was like having a baby. He's a lovely little thing and I was sad to have to say goodbye to him but he's guaranteed a great life in Cumbria.

"Rupert will be living with a vet and his wife on a farm and he even has a new playmate - Larry the lamb - who was rescued by the couple recently."

The Cumbrian vet will operate on Rupert to remove an abscess on his spine, enabling him to walk.

Carol, a trustee of the East Lancashire Animal Welfare group, added: "I'll be travelling North to see him whenever I can and the vet is going to send photographs of him as he grows."

But for now Carol has vowed to try to get a full night's sleep. "I keep waking up in the middle of the night to see if Rupert needs feeding," she laughed.

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