Mountain hares are culled in large numbers on Scottish grouse moors to reduce tick burdens on grouse, raising significant welfare and conservation concerns.
Mountain hare culling raises welfare concerns at multiple levels: wounding rates from shotgun shooting leave unknown numbers of animals dying slowly from undetected injuries; the scale of killing (thousands of animals per estate per year on some moors) imposes a population-level welfare harm; and the ecological rationale is contested, with tick and louping ill management achievable by other means. The welfare case for culling requires evidence that it achieves material tick reduction — without this evidence, the welfare costs are not justified.