Abandoned mongoose needs 24-hour care

A baby mongoose is being raised by hand after he was abandoned by his parents a couple of hours after being born.

The mongoose, named Mario by his carer Craig Wesson, is only four weeks old and needs 24-hour care, including two-hourly feeds, day and night.

Mrs Wesson said: "He's just starting to sleep through the night, in a little box next my bed on a hot water bottle with his fluffy meercat toy."

Mario lives at Kirkleatham Owl Centre, where he was born in the meerkat and mongoose enclosure.