The hare in Switzerland: a vulnerable species, cantonal hunting

In the Red List of mammals published in 2022 by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and info fauna, the brown hare remains in the "vulnerable" (VU) category, because its numbers are still falling; the causes cited are agricultural intensification and the impoverishment of the landscape.^[1]

The mountain hare is classified as "near threatened" (NT). The Red List considers a decline statistically likely and cites a study predicting that it will lose a quarter of its habitat by 2070 as a result of warming, which conversely favours the brown hare at altitude; the two species hybridise.^[1] For the biology of the brown hare, see our entry Brown hare.

Since 1991, hare counts have been carried out every spring on behalf of the FOEN, at night, by spotlight. In 2020, they covered 58 areas totalling 38,438 ha. The median density observed was 2.72 hares per 100 ha. In arable areas, the mean density stood at 5.4 hares per 100 ha; in grassland areas, it fell from 1991 to 2010 and has since stagnated at a low level, about 2.6 in 2020.^[2] The canton of Geneva states that its hare densities are among the highest in Switzerland.^[4]

The Federal Hunting Act (LChP, in German JSG) lists the brown hare and the mountain hare among the species that may be hunted. It leaves it to the cantons to regulate and plan hunting according to the principle of sustainability: they set the conditions for access to hunting, the hunting system and the hunting area, and keep harvest statistics. The Act itself sets the closed season for each huntable species; the cantons may extend it or shorten the list of huntable species.^[3] Seasons, any quotas and the species actually hunted therefore vary from one canton to another: check with the cantonal hunting service.

Geneva is an exception: since a popular vote in 1974, hunting has been banned throughout the canton.^[4]

Federal law allows the cantons to release animals of huntable species, provided suitable habitat exists and sufficient protection is ensured. It makes the import of animals of huntable species intended for release into the wild subject to authorisation by the Confederation.^[3]

Before any introduction project, check with the cantonal hunting service and the FOEN. Our guide to returning hares to the wild describes general good practice, established for France.