Help other mammals

Female Brown Hares can rear three or four litters a year, each of two to four young. The young, known as leverets, are born fully furred with their eyes open. Shortly after birth, their mother leaves her young and only returns once every 24 hours to feed them, for a maximum of five minutes! This avoids attracting predators to the young at a stage when they are most vulnerable. They are independant at just four weeks old.

For this reason, leverets should always be left well alone.

From April to May it's common to see month-old cubs developing survival skills above ground during the day. Parents or relatives are usually nearby, watching. Or you may come across cubs waiting for their mother, as vixens move their litter one by one, if they feel the den has been disturbed.

If a fox cub is still there after 24 hours, leave food and water nearby and monitor to see if it's eating and drinking normally. Foxes have no specialised food requirements, but if you have some dog food handy, this is suitable for foxes to eat. It's better for 'orphaned' cubs to be left in the wild and given supplementary food than to be brought into captivity. So if cubs are healthy and feeding normally, then provide food until July.