BBC Dorset

A mum has said she was left shocked after being told it was "unacceptable" to breastfeed her two-year-old daughter in a shoe shop.Venus Neda was shopping with her family in Poole on Tuesday when she said her daughter became "hungry and unsettled" in Valentina Beautiful Shoes.The 34-year-old said she found a spot that she felt "wasn't so in people's faces" but was asked to stop breastfeeding.The shop apologised in a post on Facebook, adding that they wanted "everyone,…

The RSPCA is warning of a surge in animal abandonment as winter approaches, with cases rising sharply in parts of the south. In Dorset, reports are up by 18.4% this year, with 187 incidents logged by the end of October compared to 158 last year. Berkshire had seen 147 cases by the end of October, similar to the whole last year's figure, but still part of a growing national trend.Across England and Wales, 24,270 abandonment incidents have been…

A charity set up to promote sustainable farming has launched a fundraising campaign to protect one of the UK's most endangered mammals.The Countryside Regeneration Trust, which owns three farms in Surrey, wants to raise £6,000 for equipment to monitor populations of dormice in the county.Conservationists believe dormouse populations have crashed by 70% in the last 25 years, becoming extinct in 14 counties, due to habitat loss.The trust wants to use 250 footprint monitoring tunnels to track their movements…

Marcus WhiteSouth of EnglandCancer Support UKMelody's teddy bear gift brought joy to the family, Cancer Support UK saidA girl who has spent months battling a rare blood cancer is helping to spearhead a charity Christmas campaign.Melody, who turns one year old on Thursday, was diagnosed in April with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).Her father Kevin, from Poole, Dorset, said a bone marrow transplant had not worked sufficiently well and doctors were "literally searching the whole world" for a cure…

Nikki MitchellSouth of England home affairs correspondentBBCParalysed by multiple sclerosis, Bob Eades has been trying and failing to get his hoists serviced"No one seems to know what's going on" following the collapse of a major medical equipment supplier, an MS patient has told the BBC.Bob Eades described the "nightmare" of trying to get someone to service the hoists his carers need to get him out of bed in the morning. He's among a number of frustrated patients and…

Jo PalmerBBC South Investigations Shaun ReynoldsWillow, a whippet, died from Alabama rot when she was four-and-a-half years oldHannah WalshBBC South Investigations "I wouldn't want anyone to go through what we went through. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."Pet owners who have lost their dogs to Alabama rot are warning others about the disease, as 90% of cases are reported between November and May.Hannah Povey said before her cocker spaniel Betsy died from Alabama rot she had…