Mountain hares are native British mammals that are subject to large-scale culling on some grouse moors, ostensibly to control tick burdens affecting red grouse. The welfare and conservation implications of culling are highly contested.
Mountain hare culling raises acute individual welfare concerns (wounding, painful deaths) and population-level concerns (severe regional declines). The scientific evidence that culling effectively reduces louping ill in grouse is insufficient to justify the scale of killing historically practiced. Welfare assessment of culling must consider both the immediate suffering of individual hares and the population-level effects on a species of conservation concern. The licensing system introduced in Scotland represents a step toward evidence-based management that protects individual welfare and population viability.