In keeping with Easter, there is good news from the Easter Bunny – also known as the field hares in Germany. According to counts, the populations of these native wild animals have recovered here: in 2025, an average of 19 hares lived in one square kilometer of fields and meadows – that is a new record. In some regions there are even up to 30 brown hares per square kilometer. However, rabbit myxomatosis, a fatal disease that first appeared in Germany in 2023, is causing concern.
For us, the Easter bunny and Easter eggs have formed an inseparable team for just over 300 years. The native brown hare (Lepus europaeus) became a symbol of Easter and, according to legend, the bearer of eggs. One reason for this could be that the hares, which are actually active at dusk and at night, also become visible during the day in spring – around Easter time. Because then it is mating season and the animals sometimes go on wild chases across meadows and fields. At the same time, brown hares are also considered a symbol of fertility because of their large number of offspring.
Every year, scientists determine how brown hares are doing in Germany based on counts and data from the Wild Animal Information System of the German States (WILD). The hare count is carried out twice a year – in spring and autumn – in around 400 reference areas spread across Germany at night on precisely defined routes with standardized headlights. Because the eyes of rabbits reflect light in a clearly visible way, they are easy to count and distinguish from other animals.
19 brown hares per square kilometer
Now the German Hunting Association (DJV) has published the current figures for our local brown hares. Accordingly, in spring 2025 there were an average of 19 brown hares per square kilometer of field and meadow in this country – that is a new record. Compared to the count two decades ago, the value is more than a quarter higher. From spring to autumn 2025, stocks also increased by around seven percent. The brown hare benefited from the particularly dry and mild winter of 2024/25 and, according to the German Weather Service, one of the driest springs since measurements began. As a former steppe animal, the hare is well adapted to such weather conditions.
However, there are also clear regional differences: According to the count, there are particularly large numbers of brown hares in the meadows and pastures of the northwest German lowlands. An average of 30 rabbits live there per square kilometer. The brown hares, on the other hand, had the highest increase from spring to autumn 2025 in the low mountain ranges of western Germany; here the populations grew by around 14 percent between the two censuses, as reported by the DJV. The rabbits in northern Germany have also made good gains with around twelve percent growth.
Rabbit myxomatosis is spreading
However, the German brown hares could also face a new danger: as early as 2023, the viral disease myxomatosis, which was originally only fatal for rabbits, appeared for the first time in brown hares. The pathogen, the myxoma virus (Leporipoxvirus myxoma), which is a smallpox virus, has mutated and can now also infect rabbits. It is transmitted through the bite of mosquitoes or through open wounds – for example during rabbit fights during mating season. After this new strain of myxomatosis was initially only known from Spain, the first cases occurred in brown hares in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2023. The hare populations, which were particularly badly affected by this, have shrunk significantly and have not recovered to this day.
“There are currently neither effective treatments nor vaccines against myxomatosis in brown hares,” explains Luisa Fischer from the Research Institute for Hunting and Wildlife Management NRW. “It remains to be hoped whether natural resistance will develop, as observed in wild rabbits.” The first cases of rabbit myxomatosis have now also been reported in Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The next few years will have to show how much of an impact the infectious disease will have on brown hares in Germany.
Source: German Hunting Association (DJV), CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases,