These charming pictures depict an unlikely friendship between a dog and an orphaned fawn.
A fawn was found ab.and.oned near a Hop field in Regensburg, Germany, when it was only one week old.
Hansi the fawn being loved affectionately by Lia the Australian Shepherd Puppy
If the baby deer had not been discovered, he would have died. Fortunately, the farmer took him away to a family he knew previously had raised deer.
The family took the newborn fawn into their home, where they bottle-fed him, nursed him back to health, and named him Hansi.
But it was the family’s 12-week-old Australian Shepherd puppy Lia who really took care of the fawn.
Lia took the initiative to care for and treat Hansi as if he was one of her own. The pair are now inseparable, with Lia spending her days playing and cuddling up to Hansi.
Anna Auerbach is a photographer and microbiologist who was fortunate enough to document the pair’s unique connection in this series of adorable photographs.
Lia playfully nibbles Hansi’s face
In other sequences, Lia tries to drink from Hansi’s bottle and snuggle up against his face.
Anna, from Regensburg, said: “The two of them get along really well.
“Hansi sees Lia and the other dogs she is raised with as a family.”
Hansi was rescued after being found abandoned close to a Hop field by some farmers in Regensburg, Germany
“The shoot only took about thirty minutes.
“All I had to do was lie on the grass and wait for the right moments – there were so many.”