The brown hare has declined 80% since the 1960s in the UK, making it a farmland priority species. Its welfare is tied to the structure of arable and pastoral landscapes and freedom from persecution.
Brown hare welfare is affected by agricultural intensification, legal and illegal hunting, and loss of grassland structure. Spring cultivation destroys leverets in forms across arable fields. Mechanical cutting of grass crops kills leverets that cannot escape at speed in their first weeks. Hare coursing (illegal) and organised driven hare shoots (legal) both cause significant welfare harm. Leverets separated from their dams by agricultural operations face starvation and exposure. Agri-environment schemes that require hare-friendly management — leaving headlands uncut, restricting spraying near field margins and maintaining rough grass areas — measurably improve hare population welfare.