Brown hares are native British mammals that have declined significantly, facing welfare pressures from agricultural intensification, hunting and road traffic.
Brown hares experience welfare harms from illegal coursing (stress, injury, exhaustion and death), road collisions in fragmented agricultural landscapes, and exposure during harvest operations. Leverets are particularly vulnerable to agricultural machinery. Hares have strong flight responses and elevated heart rates during pursuit that represent acute welfare harms. Population recovery through agricultural stewardship scheme participation benefits both hare welfare and conservation simultaneously.