Germany's real Easter Bunnies are thriving

According to the latest estimate by wildlife experts, Germany's brown hare population numbers at least 2 million. A spring 2023 census recorded 19 hares per square kilometer, the highest figure since nationwide monitoring began over 20 years ago, Torsten Reinwald, spokesperson for the German Hunting Association (DJV), recently told the German dpa news agency.

The brown hares are tallied in the spring and fall by hunters as part of a nationwide wildlife monitoring program. This involves recording how many animals can be sighted in a certain area at night by the light of a spotlight. The counts for spring 2024 are still ongoing, but Reinwald said they were once again seeing good initial results.

Many brown hares probably easily survived the relatively mild winter, according to Reinwald. "You could say the hare is a winner of climate change," he said. As original steppe dwellers, they benefit from mild and dry springs and winters — an increasing trend due to the changing climate.

The predominantly crepuscular and nocturnal animals are solitary outside of the mating season,and rest during the day in well-hidden depressions in the ground, so-called forms. In case of danger, they can reach speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour (43 miles per hour) over short distances and jump up to 2 meters (almost 6.5 feet) high. The brown hare is also an excellent swimmer.

The brown hare is found almost everywhere in Germany, surviving in niches even near urban centers. However, the positive development in recent years should not obscure the long-term trend, said Andreas Kinser from the German Wildlife Foundation. "If we look at the last 50 years, the trend is downward," he pointed out.

According to Kinser, intensive farming in particular has made the landscape less varied, thus restricting the habitat for brown hares. "Brown hares need hedges and ditches," said Torsten Reinwald of the DJV. "They find food and protection from predators in field margins." According to Reinwald, however, the larger the cultivated areas become, the fewer there are of such areas.

Hare hunting takes place in keeping with the respective regional conditions, as detailed by the German Hunting Association. In some areas, hunters voluntarily refrain from hunting brown hares. They've called for more financial incentives for farmers to designate fallow land, seeing this as the best way to strengthen the hare population.

Both the German Hunting Association and the German Wildlife Foundation believe fallow land should be expanded to increase the European hare population and strengthen biodiversity. Both organizations have criticized the fact that the EU has completely suspended the requirements for fallow land this year, calling it "extremely unfortunate."