Raising Hare

It is February, and the leveret has now reached the one-year mark and passed into adulthood. It is now a young hare. It now regularly plays with other hares, and the author sees it boxing. Boxing is a typical hare behavior that was once thought to signal fights for dominance between two males. Now, scientists know that boxing is part of a mating ritual. Chloe muses that this behavior was once anecdotally cited as a sign of “madness” and recalls the “mad” March Hare from Lewis Carrol. As winter passes into spring, Chloe must begin traveling again, first to London and then the Middle East. In her absence, she contracts her mother to feed the hare. Initially, all goes well, but then the hare disappears. She returns to a quiet house and once again feels grief. One morning, however, she catches sight of the hare again, now with three young leverets of its own. It has chosen a spot in her garden for its burrow. She is thrilled that an early life spent partially in a home did not interfere with its ability to mate and reproduce. The hare remains in Chloe’s garden, but its young soon melt into the surrounding area, never to return.