Dan Pate said: 'It is really an anomaly. It appears it had an identical twin that didn’t form all the way.

'Somehow it has a fairly normal gait, although the centre legs seem to get in the way.'

The deer was separated from its mother by two dogs being walked by their owners Melissa and Alan Dunagan.

'It wasn’t until after we put the dogs back in the house and were about to release the fawn that we realised it had six legs,' said Mrs Dunagan.

It is likely to be to be taken the deer facility at the University of Georgia once it has recovered.