Brown hares and mountain hares are native UK mammals facing population pressures from agriculture, hunting and in the mountain hare's case, controversial culling on driven grouse moors.
Wild hare welfare encompasses the acute welfare impacts of illegal coursing (chase terror, injury and death) and legal shooting (wounding risk from inexperienced or unethical shooters), and chronic welfare impacts from habitat degradation that reduces food availability and cover. Mountain hare culling raises particular welfare concerns because it targets a legally protected species under a derogation that is contested by welfare and conservation scientists. Leverets killed by agricultural machinery during silage cutting represent avoidable welfare harm - simple timing adjustments and hay-cutting bars can reduce mortality significantly.