THREE baby meerkats are being hand-reared by an animal charity.

Volunteers from Amate Animalia rescued the pups, which are thought to be just days old, and their mother from an address in Abingdon.

The centre, based in Oxfordshire, said five meerkats were originally rescued, but only three survived.

A spokeswoman for the charity said: “The mother is quite weak, so we are trying to make her better. We are hand-rearing the three survivors. We have two boys and a girl.

“It’s exhausting hand-rearing because they have to be fed every two hours, but we hope they will get through.”

She said that if the pups survived. the charity would look to rehoming them with a specialist who was verified to look after meerkats.

She added that the mother had rejected the newborns at birth, which is why they are very weak.

She said: “We haven’t named them yet so people can feel free to give us suggestions. However, we don’t want the names off the adverts.”

To contact the charity, email amateanimalia@hotmail.co.uk.