Mountain Hare Switzerland: Climate Crisis and Gunshot

The mountain hare is a survivor of the Ice Age. As a highly specialized inhabitant of high mountains, it is adapted to life above the tree line like hardly any other mammal. But climate change is robbing it of its habitat, the leisure industry is demonstrably stressing it, and recreational hunters shoot around 900 animals annually. The German Wildlife Foundation has named it Animal of the Year 2025, not out of joy, but out of concern. In Switzerland it is classified as 'potentially endangered'. It is still shot nonetheless.

Profile

The mountain hare (Lepus timidus), in the Alps referred to as Alpine mountain hare (Lepus timidus varronis), belongs to the hare family (Leporidae). With an average weight of around 3 kilograms and a body length of 40 to 60 centimeters, it is somewhat smaller and more compact than the brown hare. Its ears are significantly shorter, which corresponds to Allen's rule: The colder the habitat, the shorter the extremities, to minimize heat loss. In winter its paws are densely furred, which increases the contact surface and facilitates running on snow cover.

The molt: Camouflage as survival strategy

The most distinctive feature of the mountain hare is its seasonal coat change. In summer it wears a grey-brown coat that camouflages it among rocks and dwarf shrubs. In November it changes to a white winter coat, with only the black ear tips remaining. In between, it displays a conspicuously patched transitional coat. This colour change is genetically controlled and adapted to historical snow conditions. For millennia, it was a perfect camouflage strategy. But climate change has destroyed the timing: snow melts increasingly early, and mountain hares increasingly find themselves with white coats against brown backgrounds. Prof. Klaus Hackländer from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna describes it starkly: 'When you have white fur on brown or green ground, you really are sitting on a platter for predators' (National Geographic, 2023). In moonlight, the hares would literally glow.

Biology and reproduction

The mountain hare is primarily crepuscular and nocturnal and lives as a solitary animal. During the day it rests in a shallow depression (form) between rocks or under dwarf shrubs. It feeds on grasses, herbs, dwarf shrubs, bark and lichens. In winter, when snow cover conceals the vegetation, it switches to bark and shoots from willows, alders and bilberry shrubs.

The mating season begins in spring. After a gestation period of around 50 days, the female gives birth to 1 to 4 young, which are born as precocial animals already furred and sighted. The reproductive rate is lower than that of the brown hare, making mountain hares more sensitive to population losses. Populations are subject to natural fluctuations influenced by food availability, weather, parasites and predation.

Red List status

In Switzerland, the mountain hare is classified on the Red List of mammals as 'near threatened' (NT, Near Threatened). The Alpine population is considered particularly endangered because it is geographically isolated and lacks immigration sources from northern populations (Wikipedia, Mountain hare). Nevertheless, the mountain hare is listed as a huntable species in the Federal Act on Hunting (JSG).

Habitat: A high mountain range that's melting

Adaptation to extremes

In Switzerland, the mountain hare lives in the Alps from an altitude of around 1'300 to over 3'000 metres. It inhabits the alpine and subalpine zones: dwarf shrub belts, scree slopes, boulder fields and grass meadows above the tree line. Together with the rock ptarmigan, it is one of the few animal species perfectly adapted to the boreal-alpine habitat (Wikipedia, Mountain hare). Currently, an estimated 14'000 mountain hares live in Switzerland (Fondation Franz Weber, 2020).

Climate change as an existential threat

The Alps are warming twice as fast as the global average. For the mountain hare, this means: less snow, shorter winters, rising temperatures during breeding season. A study by WSL and the University of Bern (Rehnus et al., Global Change Biology, 2018) calculated that the area of suitable habitat for the mountain hare in Switzerland will shrink by 26 to 45 percent by 2100, depending on the scenario. The northern and southern pre-Alps are particularly affected. In the Central Alps, the loss is smaller, but even here the number of suitable areas is decreasing and fragmentation is increasing.

WSL researcher Maik Rehnus summarises: 'With the loss and increasing fragmentation of habitats, the species is increasingly endangered' (SWI swissinfo.ch, 2018). Fragmentation leads to genetic impoverishment because isolated populations can no longer maintain exchange.

The double threat: brown hare advances

Climate change brings another danger: The European hare, which normally lives at lower elevations, is increasingly settling in higher regions. A study from Graubünden shows that mountain hares were shot on average three meters higher per year over 30 years, while the European hare advanced upward twice as fast at six meters per year (Hackländer, National Geographic, 2023). The overlap zone is growing. The larger and more dominant European hare displaces the mountain hare when food is scarce. Additionally, the two species hybridize: The cross produces fertile offspring, which can lead to the long-term genetic dissolution of the mountain hare. Hackländer predicts: «The mountain hare will become extinct, but its genes will not» (National Geographic, 2023).

More on this: Dossier: Hunting and Biodiversity

The hunting: Folklore hunting of an Ice Age relic

Legal situation

The mountain hare is a huntable species under the Federal Act on Hunting (JSG, Art. 5 Para. 1). The closed season extends from January 1 to September 30. It may be shot during the months of October to December. The cantons can further restrict the hunting season or protect the mountain hare year-round. In most cantons it is hunted mainly as part of small game hunting, with shooting occurring predominantly in the cantons of Graubünden, Valais and Ticino.

The scale of shooting

Between 2014 and 2023, an average of around 900 mountain hares were killed annually in Switzerland (Wikipedia, Schneehase). BirdLife Schweiz cited 868 kills for one year (BirdLife Schweiz, Jagdstatistik). The Fondation Franz Weber speaks of around 1’000 animals per year (FFW, 2020). In Canton Uri, where a hunting ban on ptarmigan and mountain hare was voted on in 2025, the kill number was around 30 animals per year. The initiative was rejected with 52.87 percent (Aargauer Zeitung, May 2025). The Uri government argued that tourism and climate change were greater threats than hobby hunting.

The absurdity: Hunting climate victims

The hunting of mountain hares cannot be justified ecologically. Pro Natura stated during the revision of the hunting law (2020): There is no wildlife biological reason for folklore hunting of ptarmigan, black grouse, woodcock and European hares. The animals cause no damage and do not need to be controlled in their populations. The same applies to the mountain hare. It causes no wildlife damage. It conflicts with no economic interest. It lives above the tree line, where it affects neither forest nor agriculture. The only reason for hunting it is the tradition of high-alpine hunting, a recreational pleasure of hobby hunters.

That a potentially endangered species, which is already under massive pressure from climate change, habitat loss, fragmentation, hybridization and recreational disturbance, is additionally hunted, violates the precautionary principle. The Fondation Franz Weber states: «In the spirit of the precautionary principle, it would have been appropriate long ago to relieve the species of unnecessary pressure through protection status, instead of additionally decimating it through hunting» (FFW, 2020).

More on this: Dossier: Hunting Myths

Recreational disturbance: Stress that kills

Winter sports and energy consumption

Studies have shown that the feces of mountain hares in tourism regions contain significantly more stress hormones than in quieter habitats (Rehnus and Bollmann, WSL, 2021). Stressed mountain hares require around 20 percent more energy, which massively impairs their chances of survival in the already energetically critical winter (FFW, 2020). Snowshoeing, freeriding, ski touring and drone flights off marked slopes force the animals to flee and drive up their energy consumption.

The mountain hare has no energy reserves to spare in winter. Every disturbance costs calories that it cannot replace in an environment with scarce food supply. The cumulative effect of climate stress, recreational disturbance and hunting can tip the scales, even if each individual factor would not be lethal on its own.

The comparison with the rock ptarmigan

In Canton Ticino, hunting of rock ptarmigan was banned for the first time in 2019 due to its endangerment by climate change (BirdLife Schweiz, 2020). In Canton Uri, a hunting ban for ptarmigan and mountain hare was voted on in 2025. The initiative narrowly failed. What already applies to ptarmigan in individual cantons is denied to the mountain hare, even though both species share the same habitat, face the same threats, and have the same Red List status.

What would need to change

• Immediate nationwide hunting ban on mountain hares: A potentially threatened species that is existentially endangered by climate change, habitat loss and hybridization, causes no wildlife damage and does not need to be regulated, must not be hunted. What Canton Ticino has implemented for ptarmigan must also apply at federal level for mountain hares.
• National mountain hare monitoring: The WSL explicitly recommends establishing national monitoring (Rehnus et al., 2018). Currently there are no reliable population figures. The estimate of around 14,000 animals is based on rough extrapolations. Without robust data, any statement about 'sustainable' hunting is scientifically untenable.
• Effective wildlife refuge areas in high mountains: Mountain hares need undisturbed retreat areas in winter. Wildlife refuge areas above the treeline must be designated on a large scale and enforced. Snowshoeing, ski touring and freeriding off marked routes must be prohibited in these areas.
• Drone flight bans over alpine habitats: Drones are an increasing source of disturbance for wildlife in high mountains. A comprehensive drone flight ban over mountain hare and ptarmigan habitats is urgently required.
• Protection of connectivity corridors: The increasing fragmentation of mountain hare habitats threatens to leave isolated populations genetically impoverished. The connectivity areas identified by the WSL must be designated as priority protected areas.
• Research on hybridization and climate adaptation: The advance of brown hares to higher elevations and increasing hybridization are a long-term threat to mountain hares. Research on the extent and consequences of hybridization is urgently needed to enable targeted deployment of protection measures.

Argumentation

'Mountain hares are not endangered by hobby hunting, climate change is the main problem.' That climate change is the main threat is correct. But precisely for this reason, every additional mortality factor must be eliminated. When a species is already under pressure from habitat loss, fragmentation and hybridization, it is ecologically negligent to hunt it additionally. Fondation Franz Weber rightly demands application of the precautionary principle.

'Shooting numbers are low and have no impact on the overall population.' With an estimated total population of 14,000 animals and around 900 kills per year, approximately 6 percent of the population is shot annually. For a species with low reproductive rate and high natural mortality, this is not a negligible intervention. Moreover, reliable population figures are lacking: recreational hunters are shooting a species whose actual population development they do not know.

'Hunting mountain hares is tradition and part of high mountain hunting.' Tradition is no argument for hunting a potentially endangered species that causes no damage and does not need to be regulated. Pro Natura has determined that there is no reason from a wildlife biology perspective for the folkloric hunting of these species. High-alpine hunting of mountain hares is recreational entertainment, not wildlife management.

«Hobby hunters provide valuable data for monitoring through their kills.» This argument is circular reasoning: one hunts a species to collect data about its condition, and justifies the hunting with the collected data. Monitoring is also possible without killing: camera traps, track surveys, scat analyses and genetic methods provide the same information without killing a single animal. The WSL conducts its research in the Swiss National Park, where hunting is prohibited.

«In the canton of Uri, the hunting ban was democratically rejected, the people have decided.» The narrow rejection (52.87 percent) shows that society is divided on this issue. The fact that the Uri government originally supported a hunting ban itself and only changed its position under pressure from the recreational hunting lobby speaks volumes. Species protection must not fail due to cantonal votes when the scientific evidence is clear. The federal government has an obligation to anchor the protection of mountain hares at the national level.

Quicklinks

Articles on Wild beim Wild:

• Studies on the impact of recreational hunting on wildlife
• Why recreational hunting fails as population control
• Animal welfare problem: Wild animals die agonizing deaths due to hobby hunters

Related Dossiers

• The Alpine ptarmigan in Switzerland: Ice age relic between climate crisis, tourism and gunfire
• The ibex in Switzerland: Smuggled, rescued and once again degraded to a trophy
• The beaver in Switzerland: Exterminated, reintroduced and newly approved for shooting
• The woodcock in Switzerland: Endangered, hunted and politically ignored
• Waterfowl in Switzerland: Winter guests in the line of fire
• Pigeons in Switzerland: Between peace symbol, mass shooting and official starvation
• Corvids in Switzerland: The most intelligent animals in the crosshairs
• The Eurasian jay in Switzerland: Forest gardener in the crosshairs of small game hunting
• The marmot in Switzerland: Ice age relic under climate stress, tourist attraction and mass shooting
• The European rabbit in Switzerland: severely endangered, yet huntable
• The mountain hare in Switzerland: Ice age relic between climate crisis and gunfire
• The raccoon in Switzerland: Approved for shooting because it has the wrong origin
• The stone marten in Switzerland: Synanthrope between attic and gunfire
• The pine marten in Switzerland: Shy forest dweller under hunting pressure
• The badger in Switzerland: Ecosystem engineer in the crosshairs of small game hunting
• The red deer in Switzerland: Exterminated, returned and degraded to a shooting target
• The roe deer in Switzerland: most shot game animal and victim of misguided hunting policy
• The wild boar in Switzerland: Why recreational hunting exacerbates the problem instead of solving it
• The chamois in Switzerland: Between high hunting, climate stress and the myth of overpopulation
• The brown hare in Switzerland: Endangered, hunted and politically ignored

References

• Federal hunting statistics, FOEN/Wildtier Schweiz: http://www.jagdstatistik.ch (Mountain hare kill data)
• Rehnus, M. et al. (2018): Habitat suitability modelling of the Alpine mountain hare. Global Change Biology, WSL/University of Bern/University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
• Rehnus, M. and Bollmann, K. (2021): Stress exposure of mountain hares in tourism regions. WSL
• Fondation Franz Weber (2020): Mountain hare, The loser of climate change. Fact sheet (ffw.ch)
• BirdLife Schweiz: The current hunting statistics and the revised hunting law (birdlife.ch)
• National Geographic (2023): Too white for the Alps, Can the mountain hare withstand climate change? (nationalgeographic.de)
• SWI swissinfo.ch (2018): For mountain hares, climate change makes things tight in the Alps
• Naturschutz.ch (2018): For mountain hares, climate change makes things tight
• Wikipedia: Mountain hare (Lepus timidus)
• Aargauer Zeitung (May 2025): Uri, mountain hares and ptarmigan may continue to be hunted
• NZZ (May 2025): Hunting lobby versus conservationists, Uri votes on a hunting ban
• JagdSchweiz/Wildtier Schweiz: Effects of hunting on black grouse, alpine ptarmigan, woodcock, brown and mountain hares
• German Wildlife Foundation: Animal of the Year 2025, Alpine mountain hare
• Federal Act on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (JSG, SR 922.0)

Our claim

The mountain hare is a living relic of the Ice Age, an animal that has survived in the Swiss Alps since the end of the last glaciation. It has endured millennia of climate change, but the speed of current warming is unprecedented. Its habitat is shrinking, its camouflage is failing, its competitor is advancing, its genes are dissolving through hybridization. In this situation, it is treated by recreational hunters as leisure prey: around 900 animals per year, shot in the retreat area of a species that can no longer escape anywhere. The mountain hare causes no damage. It conflicts with no human interest. The only reason for hunting it is tradition, and tradition is the weakest of all arguments when a species faces extinction. The consequence is clear: mountain hare hunting must be stopped immediately and throughout Switzerland. What science recommends and the precautionary principle demands must no longer fail due to resistance from the recreational hunting lobby. This dossier will be continuously updated when new data, studies or political developments require it.

More on recreational hunting: In our hunting dossier we compile fact-checks, analyses and background reports.