David Profumo

The hare-raising experience that changed my life

When Chloe Dalton adopts an abandoned new-born leveret, she soon finds her domestic routine radically altered

Print of a hare from The Natural History of Animals, 1859. [GraphicaArtis/Getty] 
issue 28 September 2024

One wintry day during lockdown, the parliamentary political adviser Chloe Dalton discovered a new-born leveret on the track by her converted barn. It was only as long as her palm’s width, with a white star shape on its forehead. Ambivalent about interfering, she nonetheless gave it houseroom, despite being warned that brown hares can never really be domesticated.

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