The week in wildlife

A large Blue Butterfly. The butterfly, which was extinct in the UK, is now flourishing at the National Trust's Collard Hill, Somerset, one of the sites where it was reintroduced, with record numbers last year Photograph: Butterfly Conservation/David Simcox/PA

A rare white deer, which has been spotted on the west coast of Scotland. The decision has been taken to keep the stag's location secret in a bid to protect it from poachers. Another white stag that was sighted last year, on the border between Devon and Cornwall, was shot and killed Photograph: John Muir Trust/PA

A bird caught on the oil-polluted North Sea shore in Germany is being washed in a bird shelter in Moddergat, Netherlands. The birds are washed with a special cleanser Photograph: Hoge Noorden/EPA

A baby Hermann's tortoise hitches a ride on a Leopard tortoise's back Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

An elephant keeper at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust bottle-feeds an orphaned elephant at the Trust's orphanage facility near Nairobi, Kenya. While parts of Kenya are still dominated by outbreaks violence, the trust has been unaffected Photograph: Jon Hrusa/EPA

A World Society for the Protection of Animals handout of pigs being transported from Canada to Hawaii. Thousands of animals are suffering appalling conditions as they are transported live over long distances to slaughter, the society says Photograph: WSPA/PA

Newly born Indian Bengal tiger cubs play with their mother in their enclosure at the Assam state zoo in Guwahati, India. There was alarm this week as a new census indicated that the number of wild tigers in India has dwindled to little more than 1,400, less than half the previous estimate. Wildlife experts blame poaching and urbanisation Photograph: EPA

A pet mouse sits on Chinese new year gift packets in Shanghai. A sudden spike in the demand for pet rodents, inspired by the start of the Year of the Rat, has forced the price of hamsters and mice up by as many as six times in China Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP

Collie Gemma, part of an elite new canine squad, wears protective pads during a mock rescue at Southern Fire and Rescue station in Leicester. Fire services across England are being funded to train and use dogs that specialise in urban search and rescue techniques Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA

Vale, a four week old red titi monkey, clings to his dad Thiago in the rainforest biome at London zoo Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

Black-cheeked lovebirds at Bristol zoo. These birds, which mate for life, are Africa's most endangered parrot; there are less than 10,000 birds in the wild Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PA

A Palestinian farmer feeds a donkey with flowers. Palestinian farmers dumped two truckloads of flowers at the Sufa border crossing with Israel on Thursday, feeding some of the crop to sheep, as a protest over Israeli export restrictions preventing them from exporting their blooms to Europe for Valentine's day Photograph: Abid Katib/Getty