Wales opens consultation on statutory hare close season

Shooters and land managers in Wales have until midnight on 19 October to respond to the consultation, which opened on 21 September with the full White Paper, a regulatory impact assessment and a response form published on the Welsh Government website. The proposed Wild Animal Welfare (Wales) Bill would make it an offence to intentionally or recklessly kill, injure or take a hare between 1 February and 30 September each year, alongside a separate new offence of disturbing seals.

What would the hare close season outlaw?

The proposed dates match the statutory close season that has applied to brown hares in Scotland since 2012, and the White Paper says they reflect the principal breeding period described by wildlife organisations, when females may be pregnant, nursing leverets or both. Outside those dates it would remain lawful to kill, injure or take hares, subject to other legislation.

The Welsh Government wants the offence to cover reckless as well as intentional conduct, arguing that an intent-only offence would let a person proceed “despite what many might consider to be an obvious and foreseeable risk” and then claim the outcome was unintended. It also proposes connected offences, so that possessing or selling a hare taken during the close season would be unlawful at any time, in line with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Exceptions and licences for crop damage

The White Paper envisages folding the close season into the 1981 Act’s framework, so its existing section 10 exceptions would apply: rescuing an injured hare or humanely despatching one too badly hurt to recover, and actions that are the unavoidable consequence of an otherwise lawful activity. There would also be an exception for killing hares to prevent serious damage to livestock, crops, growing timber, fisheries or other property.

That agricultural exception comes with a condition. Where it is apparent beforehand that hares will need to be killed for those purposes, a licence would have to be obtained first under section 16 of the 1981 Act, the route through which Natural Resources Wales already issues species licences.

What happens to occupiers’ rights under the Ground Game Act?

The Ground Game Act 1880 gives occupiers of land the right to kill and take hares on the land they occupy, and the White Paper acknowledges that “further consideration will need to be given to the relationship between these rights and the proposed new offence”. Question 10 of the consultation asks directly for views on that effect – the question most relevant to farmers and tenants who shoot hares.

The Welsh Government is explicit that the proposal “relates to animal welfare considerations rather than conservation concerns regarding hare populations”. It notes that many organisations and individuals already follow voluntary guidance against shooting hares in the breeding season, but says those arrangements “are not legally enforceable and are not applied consistently”.

Where the rest of the UK stands

Northern Ireland’s close season runs from 1 February to 11 August, and the White Paper records that in December 2025 the UK Government announced its intention to introduce a statutory close season in England “when a suitable legislative opportunity arises”. Llyr Gruffydd MS, Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, writes in his foreword that he does not believe wider wildlife law reform “should prevent action being considered now where specific animal welfare concerns have been identified”, adding: “I encourage everyone with an interest in these issues to respond.”

What happens next

Responses go to wildanimalwelfare@gov.wales or through the online form by midnight on 19 October 2026, and the Welsh Government will publish a summary of responses before deciding whether to bring a Bill forward. Countryside Alliance Wales, which attended a sector meeting with officials on 16 September, said little detail had emerged at that stage; the shooting organisations’ formal responses to the published dates and licensing terms are still awaited. The White Paper and the regulatory impact assessment can be read in full on the Welsh Government website, linked below.