Home > The Wildlife Hospital
Leverets (baby hares) are unfortunately more often than not bought in for all the wrong reasons. Hares have litters from February onwards, the young are born in the open, with a full coat of fur and open eyes. If you see a leveret please DO NOT TOUCH.They are often left alone or with a sibling and above the grass for many hours. This is completely natural and their mother will come back to feed them. If the baby is picked up or moved by a human the mother will likely not return and their survival rate is lower than 10% after capture.So please don’t scare the hare - leave the baby there unless they are obviously injured or in immediate danger.
This little leveret came in at under one week old due to a severe wound from a lawn mower which she received stitches for. Our highly experienced veterinary nurse Janet did such a fantastic job treating and hand raising her that after many weeks she was able to be released.
This is our second ever leveret release as unfortunately leverets have an even lower chance of surviving after capture than rabbits do.So we couldn’t be more happy with this outcome - a very lucky leveret indeed!
We had 4, one week old baby rabbits come in after their nest was accidentally dug up.Rabbits dig shallow nests for their babies just under the ground.They are usually located under what looks like dead patches in the grass. Fortunately the finder bought them to us where they received around the clock care, being syringe fed every few hours until fully weaned. They then went out into a secure, outdoor enclosure during the day to acclimatise to the weather before staying out at night and eventually, being released at a safe, nearby site.
Please remember to check before you mow!
