Brown hares feel at home in the city of Zurich
European hares leave tracks in the snow: the threatened long-eared mammals were confirmed at 16 locations on the outskirts of Zurich.
The targeted search to confirm the presence of the European hare in the city of Zurich delivered pleasing results.
At sixteen locations on the outskirts of the city, the long-eared mammals left tracks in the snow during the last two winters. In order to preserve or even grow the population, the hares depend on undisturbed refuges and an enhanced landscape.
The European hare doesn't have it easy in Switzerland. recreational hunting, intensive agriculture and habitats lacking sufficient structures such as hedges or unmown meadows make life difficult for it. Its populations are under pressure in many parts of the country, which is why it is on the Red List of threatened species. This makes the current confirmations of the long-eared mammals in the area of the city of Zurich all the more pleasing.
As part of the success monitoring of landscape enhancement measures, Grün Stadt Zürich, in cooperation with the team of the project «StadtWildTiere», investigated the presence of European hares in the city of Zurich. Based on their characteristic tracks in the snow, biologists were able to confirm European hares at sixteen locations during the last two winters. The tracks were found mainly along forest edges with lightly used meadows and in forest clearings. In such places, enhancement measures such as tiered forest edges with a broad herbaceous fringe and the reduction of disruptive influences create a suitable habitat for the European hares and help to secure their continued survival within the wildlife scene of the city of Zurich.
Related dossiers and articles:
- Dossier: The European Hare in Switzerland
- Dossier: Red Lists Switzerland
- Dossier: Hunting and Biodiversity
- Dossier: Alternatives to Recreational Hunting
- Dossier: Hunting in Switzerland
- Get involved
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
All articles are written by IG Wild beim Wild as well as by external co-authors. Research, structuring and editorial processes may be supported by AI-assisted tools.
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