Hare coursing - the illegal pursuit of hares by dogs - causes severe suffering to hares and remains a persistent enforcement challenge across English farmland.
Hare coursing causes extreme acute welfare suffering. Hares pursued by dogs experience intense fear - as prey animals, they have evolved sophisticated fear responses to predator pursuit. Coursed hares frequently escape only to die hours later from injuries sustained during the chase. Those caught are killed outright or sustained injuries. The stress of the pursuit itself - cardiovascular, hormonal, and psychological - causes acute suffering even in hares that escape without physical injury. The persistence of this illegal activity despite its ban demonstrates the difficulty of enforcing wildlife crime in remote rural areas.