New move to ban shooting of hares in breeding season

Experts warn numbers are collapsing as 300,000 are killed for sport every year

The nation's deep affection for the hare, once a common sight in fields, is recorded in prose, pub names and poetry. Writers including Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Ted Hughes have paid tribute to the UK's fastest land mammal, while any English county will boast at least one pub with the word hare in its name. But now a failure to revive numbers after a century of decline from an estimated four million to under 800,000 has triggered moves to protect hares during their breeding season.

Former agriculture minister George Eustice is introducing a private member's bill that would make it illegal to shoot hares from February to September. "England and Wales are among the few remaining European countries that do not have a modern close season on shooting hares during their breeding season, which is a terrible oversight," Eustice said.