Mountain hare Switzerland: Climate crisis and the shotgun blast

The mountain hare is a survivor of the Ice Age. As a highly specialised inhabitant of the high mountains, it is adapted to life above the tree line like few other mammals. Yet climate change is robbing it of its habitat, the leisure industry demonstrably stresses it, and recreational hunters shoot hundreds of animals every year: 743 in 2025, and a total of 9,363 between 2016 and 2025 (Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025). The Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung named it Animal of the Year 2025, not out of joy but out of concern. In Switzerland it is classed as “potentially threatened”. It is shot all the same.

Profile

The mountain hare (Lepus timidus), known in the Alps as the 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 centimetres, it is somewhat smaller and stockier than the European brown hare. Its ears are markedly shorter, in line with Allen's rule: the colder the habitat, the shorter the extremities, in order to minimise heat loss. In winter its paws are densely furred, which increases the contact surface and makes it easier for the animal to move across snow cover.

The moult: camouflage as a survival strategy

The mountain hare's best-known characteristic is its seasonal coat change. In summer it wears a greyish-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 patchy 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 wrecked the timing: the snow is melting ever earlier, and mountain hares increasingly sit in white fur against a brown background. Prof. Klaus Hackländer of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, describes it in stark terms: “If you are in white fur on a brown or green background, you are really sitting on a presentation platter for predators” (National Geographic, 2023). In moonlight, the hares would positively glow.

Biology and Reproduction

The mountain hare is mainly crepuscular and nocturnal and lives a solitary life. During the day it rests in a shallow hollow (form) between rocks or under dwarf shrubs. It feeds on grasses, herbs, dwarf shrubs, bark and lichens. In winter, when snow cover buries the vegetation, it turns to the bark and shoots of willows, alders and bilberry bushes.

The mating season begins in spring. After a gestation period of around 50 days, the doe gives birth to 1 to 4 young, which, being precocial, are born already furred and with open eyes. The reproduction rate is lower than in the European hare, which makes the mountain hare more vulnerable 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 classed as “potentially threatened” (NT, Near Threatened) on the Red List of mammals. The Alpine population is considered particularly at risk because it is geographically isolated and lacks sources of immigration from the 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 Environment That Is Melting Away

Adapting to Extremes

In Switzerland, the mountain hare lives in the Alps at altitudes from around 1,300 to over 3,000 metres. It inhabits the alpine and subalpine zones: dwarf-shrub belts, scree slopes, boulder fields and grass mats above the treeline. Together with the rock ptarmigan, it is one of the few animal species perfectly adapted to the boreo-alpine habitat (Wikipedia, Mountain hare). Switzerland is currently home to an estimated 14,000 mountain hares (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 and rising temperatures during the breeding season. A study by the WSL and the University of Bern (Rehnus et al., Global Change Biology, 2018) calculated that, depending on the scenario, the area of suitable habitat for the mountain hare in Switzerland will shrink by 26 to 45 per cent by the year 2100. The northern and southern pre-Alps are particularly affected. In the central Alps the loss is smaller, but here too the number of suitable areas is declining and fragmentation is increasing.

WSL researcher Maik Rehnus sums it up: “With the loss and growing fragmentation of habitats, the species is increasingly endangered” (SWI swissinfo.ch, 2018). Fragmentation leads to genetic impoverishment, because isolated populations can no longer exchange with one another.

The double threat: the brown hare advances

Climate change brings a further danger: the brown hare, which normally lives at lower altitudes, is increasingly settling in higher regions. A study from Grisons shows that over 30 years, mountain hares were shot on average three metres higher per year, while the brown hare advanced upwards twice as fast, at six metres per year (Hackländer, National Geographic, 2023). The zone of overlap is growing. The larger and more dominant brown hare displaces the mountain hare when food is scarce. Moreover, the two species hybridise: the crossing produces fertile offspring, which in the long term can lead to the genetic dissolution of the mountain hare. Hackländer predicts: “The mountain hare will die out, but its genes will not” (National Geographic, 2023).

More on this: Dossier: Recreational hunting and biodiversity

Hunting: folklore hunting of an Ice Age relic

Legal situation

Under the Federal Act on Hunting (JSG, Art. 5 para. 1), the mountain hare is a huntable species. The closed season runs from 1 January to 30 September. In the months from October to December it may be shot. The cantons may restrict the hunting season further or protect the mountain hare year-round. In most cantons it is hunted mainly as part of small-game hunting, with the kills taking place predominantly in the cantons of Grisons, Valais and Ticino.

The scale of the killing

According to the Federal Hunting Statistics, 9,363 mountain hares were shot in Switzerland between 2016 and 2025, an average of 936 per year. The bag is declining: in 2016 it was 1,007 animals, in 2025 only 743. Four out of five kills occur in Grisons (2025: 608; 2016 to 2025: 7,431), followed by Valais (66), Uri (24) and Ticino (22) (Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025). In Grisons, every recreational hunter may kill eight hares during small-game hunting, in Valais two mountain hares, in Ticino one (small game hunting 2026). In the canton of Uri, voters rejected the popular initiative 'Let the ptarmigan and the mountain hare live!' on 18 May 2025 with 52.87 per cent voting No, on a turnout of 37.42 per cent (Canton of Uri, voting result; WBW article). The cantonal government and the cantonal parliament had recommended rejection because the kill figures were low. In response to an interpellation, the cantonal government conceded in June 2026 that no counts of mountain hares are carried out either in the canton of Uri or nationwide; the assessment of the population is based on the 'expert estimate' of the wildlife wardens (Response of the cantonal government, 16 June 2026).

The absurdity: hunting the victims of climate change

Hunting the mountain hare cannot be justified on ecological grounds. In the context of the revision of the hunting act (2020), Pro Natura stated: from a wildlife-biology perspective, there is no reason for the folklore hunting of ptarmigan, black grouse, woodcock and brown hares. The animals cause no damage and do not need to be controlled in number. The same applies to the mountain hare. It causes no damage to crops or forests. It conflicts with no economic interest. It lives above the tree line, where it affects neither forestry nor agriculture. The only reason for hunting it is the tradition of high-mountain hunting, a leisure pursuit of recreational hunters.

That a potentially endangered species, already under massive pressure from climate change, habitat loss, fragmentation, hybridisation and disturbance from leisure activities, is additionally hunted is a breach of the precautionary principle. The Fondation Franz Weber puts it this way: «In keeping with the precautionary principle, it has long been appropriate to relieve the species of unnecessary pressure by granting it protected status, rather than decimating it further through hunting» (FFW, 2020).

Leisure disturbance: stress that kills

Winter sports and energy expenditure

Studies have shown that the droppings of mountain hares in tourist regions contain significantly more stress hormones than those in quieter habitats (Rehnus, Wehrle and Palme 2014, Journal of Applied Ecology). The effects of recreational hunting itself are also measurable: mountain hares hunted with dogs showed cortisol levels 6.5 times higher than animals killed without dogs (Pedersen et al. 2024, Wildlife Biology; Hunting Fact Check). Stressed mountain hares need around 20 per cent more energy, which massively reduces their chances of survival in a winter that is already energetically critical (FFW, 2020). Snowshoe hiking, freeriding, ski touring and drone flights away from marked pistes force the animals to flee and drive up their energy expenditure.

In winter, the mountain hare has no reserves to spare. Every disturbance costs it calories that it cannot replace in an environment with scarce food. The cumulative effect of climate stress, disturbance from leisure activities and hunting can be the final straw, even if each individual factor taken on its own would not be fatal.

The comparison with the rock ptarmigan

In 2019, the canton of Ticino banned hunting of the rock ptarmigan for the first time because of the threat the species faces from climate change (BirdLife Schweiz, 2020). In 2025, the canton of Uri voted on a hunting ban for the rock ptarmigan and the mountain hare. The initiative failed narrowly. What already applies to the rock ptarmigan in individual cantons is being 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 needs to change

Immediate, nationwide hunting ban on the mountain hare: A potentially endangered species that is existentially threatened by climate change, habitat loss and hybridisation, causes no wildlife damage and does not need to be regulated must not be hunted. What the canton of Ticino has implemented for the rock ptarmigan must also apply to the mountain hare under federal law.
National mountain hare monitoring: The WSL explicitly recommends establishing a national monitoring programme (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 claim about 'sustainable' hunting is scientifically untenable.
Effective wildlife sanctuaries in the high mountains: In winter, the mountain hare needs undisturbed places of retreat. Wildlife sanctuaries above the tree line must be designated over large areas and enforced. Snowshoeing, ski touring and freeriding away from marked routes must be prohibited in these areas.
Drone flight bans over alpine habitats: Drones are an increasing source of disturbance for wild animals in the high mountains. A blanket ban on drone flights over mountain hare and ptarmigan habitats is urgently needed.
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 hybridisation and climate adaptation: The European hare's advance into higher altitudes and increasing hybridisation are a long-term threat to the mountain hare. Research into the extent and consequences of hybridisation is urgently needed so that protective measures can be applied in a targeted way.

Talking points

“The mountain hare is not endangered by recreational hunting; climate change is the main problem.” It is true that climate change is the main threat. But that is precisely why every additional mortality factor must be eliminated. When a species is already under pressure from habitat loss, fragmentation and hybridisation, it is ecologically negligent to hunt it on top of that. The Fondation Franz Weber is right to call for the application of the precautionary principle.

“The kill figures are low and have no impact on the overall population.” With an estimated total population of 14,000 animals and 743 kills in 2025, around 5 per cent of the population is shot every year. For a species with a low reproduction rate and high natural mortality, that is no negligible intervention. Moreover, reliable population figures are lacking: recreational hunters are shooting a species whose actual population trend they do not know.

“Hunting the mountain hare is a tradition and part of high-mountain hunting.” Tradition is no argument for hunting a potentially threatened species that causes no damage and does not need to be regulated. Pro Natura has established that, from a wildlife-biology perspective, there is no reason for this folklore hunting of these species. High-mountain hunting of the mountain hare is a leisure pastime, not wildlife management.

“Through their kills, recreational hunters provide valuable data for monitoring.” This argument is circular reasoning: a species is hunted in order to collect data on its condition, and the hunting is then justified by the data collected. Monitoring is also possible without killing: camera traps, track surveys, scat analysis and genetic methods provide the same information without killing a single animal. The WSL carries out its research in the Swiss National Park, where no hunting takes place.

“In the canton of Uri the hunting ban was rejected democratically; the people have decided.” The narrow rejection (52.87 per cent) shows that society is divided on this question. In the consultation draft of the hunting ordinance, the Uri cantonal government had itself wanted to remove hunting of the mountain hare and the rock ptarmigan in 2023, because there was “no need from a wildlife-biology perspective” to hunt them; after “controversial statements” it dropped the point, and the Landrat rejected the deletion on 4 October 2023 by 30 votes to 23 (Report of the cantonal government, 12.11.2024). That speaks volumes. Species protection must not fail because of cantonal referendums when the scientific evidence is unambiguous. The Confederation has a duty to anchor protection of the mountain hare at national level.

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sources

FOEN, Federal Hunting Statistics: mountain hare, kills 1990–2025 by canton, accessed on 21.10.2026 (jagdstatistik.ch)
FOEN/info fauna (2022): Red List of Mammals (excluding bats), mountain hare: near threatened (NT)
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., Wehrle, M. and Palme, R. (2014): Mountain hares Lepus timidus and tourism: stress events and reactions. Journal of Applied Ecology 51: 6–12
Pedersen, S. et al. (2024): Hunting method affects cortisol levels in harvested mountain hares (Lepus timidus). Wildlife Biology
Fondation Franz Weber (2020): Mountain hare, the loser of climate change. Fact sheet (ffw.ch)
BirdLife Switzerland: The Current Hunting Statistics and the Revised Hunting Act (birdlife.ch)
National Geographic (2023): Too white for the Alps: can the mountain hare withstand climate change? (nationalgeographic.de)
SWI swissinfo.ch (2018): Climate change is closing in on mountain hares in the Alps
Naturschutz.ch (2018): Climate change is closing in on mountain hares
Wikipedia: Mountain hare (Lepus timidus)
Canton of Uri: Result of the cantonal referendum of 18 May 2025 (ur.ch); Report and motion of the Executive Council to the Landrat of 12 November 2024 (ur.ch); Reply of the Executive Council to the interpellation by Loa Wild of 16 June 2026 (ur.ch)
NZZ (May 2025): Hunting lobby versus conservationists: Uri votes on a hunting ban
Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung: 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 Standard

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 the current warming is unprecedented. Its habitat is shrinking, its camouflage is failing, its competitor is advancing, and its genes are dissolving through hybridisation. In this situation, recreational hunters treat it as leisure quarry: most recently 743 animals in 2025, shot in the last refuge of a species that has nowhere left to retreat. 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 disappearance. The conclusion is clear: mountain hare hunting must be stopped immediately and nationwide. What science recommends and the precautionary principle demands must no longer be blocked by the resistance of the recreational hunting lobby. This dossier is updated continuously as new figures, studies or political developments require.

More on the topic of recreational hunting: in our hunting dossier we bring together fact checks, analyses and background reports.