Germany: Drastic Decline of Brown Hares

A symbol of the Easter season under threat: the number of brown hares is declining sharply, and the animals have already been listed on the Red List of Endangered Species. In the 2017/18 hunting year, hunters killed 184,690 brown hares. Five years ago, 314,000 animals fell victim to hunters; ten years ago, 528,000 hares were killed. For many wildlife species, such as the hare, the hunting bag is used as an indicator of population trends. PETA considers intensive hunting, alongside agriculture, to be one of the main factors driving the sharp decline.

In an industrialised agricultural landscape dominated by monocultures, the enormous hunting pressure has a particularly devastating effect. The animal welfare organisation is calling on the German Hunting Association to voluntarily and immediately cease hunting hares. Otherwise, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture would be called upon to declare a year-round closed season for the endangered species.

Walkers at Easter have the best chance of spotting a brown hare in the western federal states, particularly in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, along the Upper Rhine in Baden-Württemberg, and in Bavaria. With a little luck, the Easter hare can still be seen in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate too — in the east, however, representatives of the species have become extremely rare.

Hunting brown hares poses an existential threat to the species. It would not be the first time that hunters have pursued a species until it stands on the brink of extinction. Grey partridges, too, were slaughtered in their hundreds of thousands in some years during the 20th century and are now severely endangered. If the hunting association continues to pursue brown hares, a legal regulation must be introduced.

Nadja Michler, Wildlife Policy Officer at PETA

Misleading arguments from the hunting community

Industrial agriculture is the primary driver of population decline in endangered species, as it destroys animal habitats. New farmland, monocultures, fertilizers, and pesticides are progressively eliminating the natural structures that are vital to their survival — and over-fertilization is also reducing the availability of food. However, the killing of hundreds of thousands of animals by hunters places additional pressure on already weakened populations and can push them to the brink of extinction. Absurdly, hunters attempt to blame predators such as the fox for the decline in hare populations. Foxes, however, feed primarily on mice and pose no threat to hare populations or ground-nesting birds. Moreover, hunting foxes has no regulatory or reducing effect on their population, as losses are quickly offset by immigration and rising birth rates.