Orphaned leverets cared for in East Winch
They being looked after by the RSPCA
Three tiny orphaned leverets are being hand-reared by RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre.
They were collected from The Shotley Peninsula in Suffolk.
The orphaned trio will be hand-reared and given round the clock care until they are strong enough to be released back to the wild.
Centre manager Alison Charles said:
"These three leverets are very small and too young to be without mum. We will do all we can to give them a fighting chance, however caring for such young and vulnerable patients will require some very careful nursing which involves hand feeding them giving them milk feeds with a syringe every few hours."R
Unlike rabbits, leverets (baby hares) are born mobile, fully furred and with eyes open. They also don't live in burrows (warrens) like rabbits and are normally left alone from birth for long periods of time, hiding in small depressions in the ground called 'forms'. Their mother will return to feed them though, once a day, usually around dusk or some time during the night.
RSPCA advice, once you can confirm it is a baby hare and not a rabbit, is to watch from a distance to see if its mother returns. If she has not returned by two hours after dusk, please contact the animal charity on 0300 1234 999.