Brown hares have declined dramatically in UK farmland, with agricultural intensification reducing both habitat quality and individual animal welfare through loss of cover and food diversity.
Brown hare welfare is shaped by the intersection of their surface-dwelling lifestyle with an agricultural landscape that has become increasingly hostile to their survival and welfare. Unlike rabbits, hares rely on surface vegetation for shelter and cover - their forms provide camouflage and wind protection in dense grassland or crop cover. The conversion of spring-sown mixed cropping to autumn-sown monocultures has created a landscape with large areas of bare or sparse vegetation during winter when hares are most vulnerable. Leverets are particularly vulnerable: born in forms with no underground protection, they rely on their cryptic coloration and instinct to remain completely still when threatened. Agricultural machinery operations during May-July kill significant numbers of leverets annually - a welfare harm that is preventable through delayed cutting and machinery speed reduction during field operations. Coursing, despite the legal ban, continues illegally and causes significant welfare harm through prolonged pursuit to exhaustion, injury, and sometimes death. Illegal coursing is associated with rural crime and intimidation of farming communities.