Seven-week-old cow with two extra limbs doing well despite vet's predictions that she would not survive

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A six-legged calf has defied the odds by thriving despite a vet's prediction at birth that it would not survive.

Seven-week-old Lilli is a minor celebrity in her native Switzerland after local media were splashed with images of the calf frolicking in a sunny field.

Farmer Andreas Knutti from Weissenburg, 19 miles south of the capital, Bern, says he couldn't bring himself to euthanise the animal because she was "so full of life".

He told Swiss daily Blick on Thursday that a curve in her spine means that Lilli may never become a normal milk cow.

But Knutti says that if the calf stays healthy she will still be allowed to join the others when they head for alpine pastures this summer.