Wild Animal Welfare

Wild Hare UK Population Welfare Recovery

Mountain and brown hare populations face distinct pressures - targeted conservation enables population and individual welfare recovery.

Key Facts

Brown hares have declined 80% since the 1960s through agricultural changes
Mountain hares face significant mortality through driven mountain hare culls on grouse moors
Mountain hare culling is legal in Scotland but subject to voluntary caps
Brown hare agri-environment schemes (wild bird seed plots, beetle banks) support recovery
Leveret survival is the key demographic bottleneck in brown hare population dynamics

Welfare Considerations

Individual hares face welfare threats from illegal coursing, agricultural machinery, and legal culling. Each intervention that reduces mortality and maintains habitat benefits identifiable individual animals in a population that has been severely diminished.

What You Can Do

Support Wildlife Trusts and organisations working on brown hare population recovery
Advocate for Scottish mountain hare culling regulations to become binding restrictions
Report hare sightings to Great British Hare Count citizen science monitoring