The hare in Liechtenstein: from the Rhine valley to the Alps

According to the Historical Lexicon of Liechtenstein, brown hare populations have declined sharply since the 1950s; at the last count, in 1996, only small numbers remained in the Ruggeller Riet, in the wet meadows between Eschen and Schaan and at Balzers^[3].

Biologist Michael Fasel noted in 2017 that the hare, a very prolific species, was still common in the country a few decades ago, but has become very rare and has disappeared entirely between the Schaaner Riet and Balzers^[4]. He attributes this mainly to frequent mechanical tillage and a lack of structure in the open landscape, and stresses that the species would benefit from measures taken for ground-nesting birds, such as leaving strips of meadow unmown until mid-August^[4]. For the biology of the species, see our Brown hare profile.

In November 2018, a first case of tularaemia was detected in the Ruggeller Riet^[5]. Three hares found dead, two in the Ruggeller Riet and one in Triesenberg, tested positive at the national reference laboratory, and the disease went from a local outbreak to an epizootic affecting the whole country^[5]. As tularaemia can be transmitted to humans, a hare found dead should be handled with care.

The whole national territory is divided into hunting grounds (Reviere), whose boundaries are set by the government after consulting the municipalities and the alpine pasture and citizens' corporations^[1]. A hunting ground may not be smaller than 500 hectares and, as a rule, does not exceed 1,500 hectares^[1]. The hunting right is leased, by public auction or by private agreement, to groups of at least four natural persons, for a period of six to eight years set by the government^[1].

The authority responsible for hunting is the Office of Environment (Amt für Umwelt) in Vaduz^[6]. The game management ordinance provides for game population surveys, carried out with the hunting syndicates and the gamekeepers of each hunting ground^[2].

In Liechtenstein, hunting seasons are a matter neither for the municipalities nor for the hunting grounds: they are set for the whole country by the government's game management ordinance (Hegeverordnung), issued under the Hunting Act^[2]. The brown hare and the mountain hare each have their own season^[2]. The annual shooting plan adopted by the government covers ungulates (Schalenwild), not hares^[2]. We do not reproduce the dates here: consult the ordinance in force.

We have not found any public source setting out the Liechtenstein rules applicable to releasing hares into the wild: check with the Amt für Umwelt before any project. Above all, the sources cited above show that the hare needs a more structured landscape^[4]. Our guide to returning hares to the wild stresses that adding animals is never a substitute for habitat. GIBIS, a game breeder based in Chatte, in the Isère department of France, raises young hares there and also offers wild-caught hares from Central Europe: see our hares.