MISSY the springer spaniel's guilt was too much after she caught and killed a hare.

For the unfortunate victim was mother to a leveret, and now Missy has turned surrogate mum to help rear the tiny creature.

Three-year-old Missy's owner, Sue Riggs, 37, was amazed when she arrived home at the family's 20-acre small-holding in Scorton, North Yorkshire, to find Missy nuzzling the fluffy week-old hare.

Last year, Missy had a pup and weaned her, and Mrs Riggs believes her dog's hormones are still running high and that she wanted to mother the hare -named Harey by Mrs Riggs' children - like a puppy.

Mrs Riggs said: "When I arrived home and saw Missy with the hare, I could not believe my eyes. I have never seen anything like it before.

"They were cuddled up together and Missy would not let any of my four other dogs anywhere near.

"I panicked and took Harey away and put her in a pen by herself. Every time I turned my back, Missy went back to her and picked her up and starting mothering the hare again.

"In the end, I left them because it was obvious Missy was not going to do her any harm."

Mrs Riggs' civil engineer husband John, 39, and children Louisa, 15, Sean, 14, Sophie, seven, and five-year-old Charlotte are equally amazed.

Harey is now three-weeks-old has three bottles of goat's milk a day.