A WILDLIFE protection officer has sacrificed her love life to become a surrogate mum to orphaned fawns.

Alex Morris, 26, has the unique task of hand-rearing rescued fawns at the Scottish SPCA's national wildlife rescue centre at Fishcross, Clackmannanshire.

She alone speaks to the timid animals to gain their trust before grooming, feeding and ultimately letting them go back to the wild like their own mothers would.

Ms Morris says the fawns adopt her as their mum and no longer think of her as human. In turn, she thinks of them as her babies.

But she admits the commitment to the abandoned animals means she misses out on relationships.

She said: "I'm single and have no kids, just the fawns.

"When it comes to relationships you feel you need to declare it because it's such a time commitment."