A DREAM came true for Carla Morris when she enjoyed a day out at the zoo yesterday.

She was given a chance to take a closer look at her favourite animals and feed them herself.

Carla, 13, from Pontefract, was spending a day at Flamingo Land zoo and theme park, near Pickering, North Yorkshire,with her family when she was given the surprise.

Under supervision, she was taken into the giraffe enclosure and lifted on to a platform to meet one of the giraffes, Kismet, face-to-face.

But at the hippopotamus pool, no-one is getting close to the zoo's newest arrival.

A baby hippo was born three weeks ago and his proud mum, Betty, won't let anyone anywhere near him.

So the keepers don't know yet whether the newcomer is a girl or a boy and they haven't yet given the baby a name.

Zoo administrator Sean Drayton said: "If anybody can come up with a name that isn't gender specific we'd like to hear from them."

* The zoo is running an adopt-an-animal scheme, to give people the chance to become a keeper for a day.