Chloe Dalton is clear that anyone who sees an abandoned baby hare should not pick it up. The mother is almost always nearby. Her first reaction was to leave the little animal alone.
But when she returned four or five hours later, the baby hare was where she had left it. Buzzards were circling overhead and it was on a busy road.
She didn't know if the rabbit would survive the first night, but for three years it stayed close to her. She describes the experience in the book "The Hare and I" - her first book, recently published in Swedish.
"I am very touched that an animal that lacks vocal cords, that is completely silent, has helped me find my own voice," the British author tells TT during a visit to Stockholm.
Kids in the study room
From the very beginning, she was careful to treat the hare as a wild animal. She saw it as her responsibility to ensure that it could return to the wild. But the hare gained such trust in her that it gave birth to its young in her study.
I wrote the book while a hare, a wild hare, was sleeping in the room, and wrote parts of it with two baby hares hidden in the bookshelf behind me.
Chloe Dalton has no background in wildlife conservation or animal health. She has worked as a foreign policy advisor and speechwriter and describes herself as the least likely person to take on a hare.
I didn't think about it at the time, but now I wonder if I almost saw the hare as a person from another country where I didn't speak the language or know the culture. And maybe because of my job I had the instinct to want to understand and respect.
Left an impression
The hare she found is gone; all it has left behind are a few whiskers and a faint dent in the carpet where it used to lie. But the babies and their babies still come to Chloe Dalton's garden.
The imprint on Chloe Dalton's life is even stronger. As she learned more about hares, she became aware of how vulnerable they are and is now pushing for legislation to increase their protection. She has developed a new relationship with nature. Being around hares became a comfort in troubled times that she still carries with her.
We don't have to be constantly affected by all the terrible things that happen in the world. When things got tough, I would sometimes look at the hare and her dignity and composure, her patience and perseverance. I think we can learn something from the fact that the species survived.
Chloe Dalton is an author, political advisor, and foreign policy expert.
She has previously worked in the British Parliament as an advisor and speechwriter for, among others, former British Foreign Secretary William Hague and actress Angelina Jolie.
"The Hare and I" is her first book.
