Brown hare

Classification:

Global Population

Description and Natural History

Brown hares are larger and more athletic than rabbits; on average they are 54 centimeters (21 inches) long but can grow up to 60 centimeters (24 inches) in length. The average weight for males is 3.2 kilograms (7 pounds), and 3.4 kilograms (7.5 pounds) for females.

Natural History
Range: The brown hare can be found throughout Europe and across central Asia. The species was introduced to Britain, as well as to Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and parts of North America. It is native to open steppes and has spread following the clearance of woodland and agriculture.

Brown hares tend to live in cultivated landscapes or open fields near cultivated land. While they are generally solitary animals, their home ranges overlap extensively and several hares may be seen feeding together. There is no evidence of territorial behavior.

Brown hares feed on many species of plants, including grass, roots, twigs, bark, and farm or garden produce. They rely on an acute sense of smell and hearing, and can run up to 70 kilometers/hour, swerving and zigzagging to escape predators. Hares are mainly nocturnal but can be seen during the day, sometimes crouching down in a small depression in the ground called a “form” or in a ploughed furrow. Most activity occurs at dawn or dusk when they are feeding.

Breeding: Hares may breed at any time of year but most mating takes place between February and October. At this time, jacks and jills (males and females respectively) can be seen racing around the field, jumping in the air and boxing with one another. Boxing is normally between males and females; as a female approaches her receptive period, she is closely attended by a male. If she is unreceptive, she turns and boxes him off. Jacks will mate with numerous jills.

Females usually have three litters of young each year, usually between February and October, and winter breeding is rare. Gestation lasts for 41-42 days. A litter consists of one to four ‘leverets’, which are born above ground and with their eyes open. The leverets are left alone for most of the day until the mother returns to feed them at night. Brown hares can live up to 7 years, although most live less than two years, and there is a very high mortality of leverets.

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Status of the Species

The brown hare is a priority species for conservation in the UK and has its own Biodiversity Action Plan, with the aim of doubling the population size by 2010. Unfortunately, hare numbers in Britain are still declining and it seems highly unlikely this goal will be achieved. 

Since the 1960s however, the brown hare has undergone a decline in the UK and the current British estimate is around 750,000. Today, hares are patchily distributed and increased pressure from coursing and killing by landowners has added to the reduction of brown hare numbers in some areas. Other threats include loss of habitat, loss of habitat diversity in agricultural land (i.e. loss of mixed farms), changes in planting regimes, death of leverets by farm machinery, and pesticides. 

Humans have hunted brown hares for sport and for meat for thousands of years; the earliest recognizable breeds of dogs were long dogs used for coursing. It was this fascination with hunting hares that led to their introduction throughout most of Europe, and more recently elsewhere in the world. In 2004, the hunting and coursing of hares in Britain was banned by the Hunting Act, after a long campaign in which IFAW played a major role.

Hunting in Britain before the ban: Hares were hunted with packs of dogs – beagles, basset hounds and harriers were all used to hunt hares in Britain before the passing of the Hunting Act. Beagles and bassets were followed on foot, and harriers on horseback. The hares were hunted to the point of exhaustion, and then killed by the hounds. 

Coursing in Britain before the ban: Hare coursing in Britain took many forms. Organised meets were often large spectator events – the last remaining arena style animal cruelty in Britain. Individual hares were “beaten” or released into the coursing arena and given a head start before the dogs were released. The two dogs, usually greyhounds, were then set upon a single hare and marked according to their ability to force the hare to turn this way and that in its attempts to escape. Coursing dogs are bred for speed and the hare literally had to run for its life to avoid capture. Coursing is a brutal sport that means death for many hares; the caught animal can end up in a gruesome tug-of-war between the two dogs, and coursed hares can die of the stress induced disorders after coursing even if they survive the event itself.

Organised coursing remains legal in Northern Ireland, although hare protection orders have prohibited this for many years.

Shooting In Britain

Large numbers of hares are shot at the end of the harvest when they are still breeding. In addition, driven hare shoots are held in February and March where up to 40% of the British hare population is killed. These shoots are held at the start of the breeding season, leaving large numbers of leverets orphaned. Although it is illegal to sell hares in Britain for five months of the year, many hares shot in Britain are exported for sale in Europe.

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Authors and Sources

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