The brown hare (Lepus europaeus) has benefited from the UK coursing ban but faces ongoing pressures from agricultural intensification and illegal hare coursing that compromise welfare.
Illegal hare coursing causes acute welfare harm through the hunting process itself: dogs pursue hares at speed, causing exhaustion and in many cases death by mauling. Hares are cursorial animals (adapted for running) but cannot sustain pursuit by lurchers over open ground. Gang-organised illegal coursing is increasingly associated with violence toward rural communities and livestock worrying, creating secondary welfare and community impacts. Welfare monitoring of wild hare populations uses road casualty data, spotlight counts, and farm mammal surveys. Habitat management including grass buffer strips, beetle banks, and reduced pesticide use improves population welfare by providing foraging habitat and cover. The Hare Preservation Trust coordinates wild hare welfare advocacy.