Brown hares have declined dramatically across Britain as agricultural intensification reduces the permanent grassland, hedgerow structure, and undisturbed habitats they depend on.
Brown hare welfare is shaped by a combination of agricultural habitat loss, direct mortality from farm machinery, illegal coursing, and legal shooting. The vulnerability of leverets to grass cutting is a particularly poignant welfare concern - lying flat as a defensive behaviour makes them impossible to detect until machinery passes over them. Illegal coursing causes welfare problems both through direct injury during pursuit and through chronic chronic stress from persecution. The legal status of hares as unprotected quarry during most of the year means individual welfare has little legal protection despite population-level concern. Simple mitigation measures - cutting grass from the centre outward, maintaining undisturbed margins - can significantly reduce leveret mortality.