BILLY the kid faced certain death before he was rescued from a cattle auction.

The baby goat, called Billy G, was sold for £2 to Tracey Patterson when she realised his plight.

He is now the prized pet of Tracey's five-year-old daughter Chloe (pictured) and has become familiar sight in Sunnyhurst Woods, Darwen. "We get a few funny looks when we take him out for a walk on a lead. People have a good laugh and say we are mad," said Tracey of Durham Road, Darwen.

"Everybody thinks he's ace and Chloe loves him to bits. He is part of the family and follows us all around."

The little goat was only a few days old when he was bought from Clitheroe Auction six weeks ago.

Tracey added: "We had to do a lot research on how to look after him and it's not easy. He needs a lot of care and is a really fussy eater.

"We've had to bottle feed him, but it's all been worth it. We couldn't bear to think of him being slaughtered because nobody wanted him.

"There were others like him at the auction and I dread to think what happened to them."

Chloe is a pupil at Holy Trinity Primary School in Darwen. Billy G has already been to visit her classmates.

Tracey said: "We are all animal mad. We have loads of other pets, so it's a bit like a zoo.

"We are on the waiting list for an allotment in Tockholes Road so it will be great for Billy when we get that."

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