Found an injured hare? The biggest danger isn't the injury

The hare is one of the animals that most frequently arrives dead at wildlife rescue centres — not from its injuries, but from how it was rescued.

It's called capture myopathy or capture shock: a physiological mechanism by which the animal goes into cardiac arrest from terror. A hare that looks uninjured, held in someone's hands for just a few minutes by a well-meaning person, can die before it reaches the centre.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't intervene. It means you have to do it the right way.

When it really needs help

An adult hare that lets you approach it is almost always an emergency. Hares are fast, wary wild animals — if you can walk up to one on foot, something is wrong.

Intervene if:

It doesn't move, or barely moves, even when you approach
It has visible injuries: cuts, bent limbs, blood
It's been attacked by a dog or cat (even superficial scratches need treatment)
It's walking in circles or can't keep its balance

Leave it alone if:

It's sitting still in open ground with no visible injuries — it may simply be resting (hares do this in the daytime too)
It runs when you approach — that's fine

Leverets: the most common mistake

In spring and early summer it's common to find leverets alone in the grass. The instinct is to pick them up: they look abandoned, vulnerable, sometimes cold.

Don't. The mother hare nurses her young only at night, twice a day, and stays away during the day so as not to draw predators toward the nest. The leverets you see alone are not abandoned: the mother will return.

Intervene only if:

They're injured (visible wounds, broken limbs)
They're cold, rigid, dehydrated (skin that doesn't spring back when gently pinched)
The nest has been destroyed by a dog, lawnmower or agricultural work
They've been brought inside by a cat — even without visible injuries, a rescue centre is needed

How to move it without killing it

If you do need to pick up an injured adult hare, speed and darkness are your main tools.

Cover the head immediately with a dark cloth: if it can't see, it calms down. Hares have an ocular reflex that lowers heart rate when placed in darkness.

Handle it as little as possible. Don't squeeze it, don't carry it around, don't show it to children or dogs. Put it straight into a cardboard box — large, with ventilation holes, lined with soft cloths — and close it.

No water, no food. No heat lamps. Room temperature, silence, darkness.

Call the rescue centre before even picking it up: they'll give you specific instructions.

What to do if it's been taken by a dog

This is the most dangerous scenario. Dog teeth and claws inject bacteria even through small wounds that look innocuous. A hare bitten by a dog and not treated with antibiotics will die of septicaemia within 24–48 hours, even if the wound looks small.

Take the animal to a rescue centre within a few hours. Don't wait to see how it does.

Legal protection

The common hare (Lepus europaeus) is a huntable species during the hunting season, but outside that period it's protected and cannot be kept. Leverets can never be kept at home. If you find an injured adult, temporary rescue to transport it to a centre is permitted; keeping it is a criminal offence.