Brown hare populations have declined significantly in Britain, with welfare implications for individual hares facing habitat loss, agricultural intensification, and hunting pressure.
Brown hare welfare is strongly linked to landscape quality. Hares require large territories with diverse habitats providing both feeding areas and cover. Individual welfare costs of declining habitat include compromised nutrition, increased predation vulnerability, and exhaustion of longer forays to find adequate food. The banning of hare coursing in 2004 removed one significant welfare harm, but agricultural intensification continues to impose chronic welfare costs on surviving populations.