Brown hares have declined significantly across the UK due to agricultural intensification, and their welfare is affected by habitat loss, legal hunting, and disease.
Brown hare welfare is compromised by agricultural intensification that has removed the field margins, hedgerows, and rough grassland they depend on. Hares born above ground as leverets are vulnerable to cutting machinery deaths - studies suggest hundreds of thousands are killed annually during silage cutting. Hare coursing, where dogs pursue hares across open land, causes fear, exhaustion, and often injury before escape or death. Disease-driven population crashes cause significant mortality. Restoring field margins and implementing pre-cut flushing protocols reduces machinery deaths and supports population and individual welfare.