Hare today...

The boxing-style courtship ritual which has given the hare a reputation for March madness and a sign of spring on the horizon, was once a common sight in England. But the common brown hare population has declined by three-quarters over the past 60 years.

The government is trying to help by supporting habitat reconstruction. But the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, a charity supported by hunting and shooting interests, suggests that culling foxes would be more helpful.

The trust has a research report in the European Journal of Wildlife Research which says the hare does best on or near game-shooting estates, where foxes are controlled.

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Author Jonathan Reynolds says: "Although foxes rarely kill adult hares, they can systematically prey on and kill leverets to such an extent that a fox family can eat the entire production of the local hare population in one sitting."

The trust has produced a guide to conserving the hare for farmers and land managers.

Download it www.gwct.org.uk or call 01425 652381.

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