Meet pampered Princess Sugarplum - the pet turkey who will definitely NOT be eaten this Christmas in Milton Keynes

Princess Sugarplum was adopted from a hen rescue sanctuary as a tiny bald chick who had been badly bullied by the rest of the flock.

Newport Pagnell couple Scott and Allie Humphries fell in love with her at first sight and took her home, intending that she live with outside with their other rescue birds.

However the determined turkey had other ideas and prompty attached to her humans as though they were her muma nd dad.

"She screamed constantly unless she was with us. We decided to bring her inside for a while to settle her- but somehow she never left,” said Allie.

Now six months old, Princess Sugarplum, known as Sugar for short, leads an indoor life of luxury and is “simply adorable”, following Scott and Allie around like a little pet dog.

“She likes to sit on our laps and watch television. Then when bedtime comes she takes herself off to her crate. But as soon as it’s daylight, she starts calling out and trots into the bedroom to have a snooze with us until we get up,” said Allie.

“She snuggles between the two of us using Scott as a pillow. It’s so sweet."

The couple say Sugar is more dog-like than turkey-like in her ways. She plays with toys, tries to steal human food as well as her specialised diet and follows her humans around all day.

But house-training does not come quite so easy to turkeys as it does to dogs...

"We get through a lot of wet wipes!” said Allie, who is passionate about wild birds and runs MK Swan Rescue.

She and her fellow volunteers are called out at all hours to deal with injured swans and wildfowl in lakes over MK.

She realises Sugar is too needy to ever be released into the wild but hopes one day she will be able to live in the garden with other birds.

"One thing is for sure – she will never be eaten for Christmas!” she said.