Mountain hares are legally culled in large numbers on driven grouse moors in Scotland, where they are considered disease vectors for louping ill virus affecting grouse. A licensing system introduced in 2021 has partially restricted this practice.
Mountain hares killed during culling operations are shot, usually during drives. Wounding without immediate death causes suffering in animals that escape injured. The scale of culling before licensing (tens of thousands annually) represented one of the largest legal wildlife killings in the UK. Licensing does not eliminate culling but requires justification and monitoring. The welfare case against large-scale culling is compounded by the conservation concern about population-level impacts.