Brown hare leverets are born above ground in small scrapes called forms, making them highly vulnerable to agricultural machinery, predation and disturbance during March to August.
Leverets killed by machinery experience sudden trauma. Orphaned leverets have very low survival rates even in specialist wildlife rehabilitation due to stress, inappropriate feeding and disease. Predator pressure on leverets is high; they lack the physical capacity to flee effectively and rely entirely on concealment. Human disturbance that reveals their form to predators is lethal.