European hare populations have declined by 80 percent in the UK since the 1960s, driven by agricultural intensification, and the remaining population faces welfare challenges from persecution and habitat loss.
Hare welfare is affected by multiple pressures: leverets killed by silage mowing experience sudden traumatic death; hares disturbed repeatedly by agricultural machinery suffer chronic stress; and large organised hare shoots create welfare concerns from wounding rates when large numbers of fast-moving animals are shot simultaneously. The ban on hare coursing addressed one specific welfare concern but other threats remain. Hares injured by shooting or mowing that survive without being found suffer from their wounds without treatment. Creating habitat where hares can breed away from high-risk arable fields — through uncultivated field margins and headlands — directly reduces mowing mortality and habitat stress.