Hares at risk in England as 3,500 remain
THERE are just 3,500 mountain hares left in England, researchers have revealed.
They walked more than 500 miles in the Peak District to track the only remaining group and found it is at risk of extinction.
Experts estimate there are just 10 mountain hares left per square kilometre in the Dark Peak area, west of Sheffield.
Dr Carlos Bedson, lead author of the study at Queen’s University Belfast and Manchester Metropolitan University, said the findings of the survey – the first for 20 years – were “deeply concerning”.
The hares, which are brown in summer but turn white in winter, were reintroduced from Scotland and Wales in the 1800s after almost dying out.