Weight of body, carcass and internal organs as well as paranephric fat index (KFI) as the individual condition indices of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) in eastern Poland

Weight of body, carcass and internal organs as well as paranephric fat index (KFI) as the individual condition indices of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) in eastern Poland. The conducted examination on the individual condition of the brown hare was based on animals obtained by means of group hunting in the western part of the Lublin district in eastern Poland. The weight of body, carcass and internal organs as well as paranephric fat index (KFI) was estimated and compared for separate age and gender groups. The body weight of young hares at the level of just over 4.0 kg and adults amounting to 4.7 kg is higher than in other parts of Poland as well as in the Lublin region compared to previous years. High individual condition is also confi rmed by the KFI index, which amounted to 3.6 and was high for this time of year. Carcass mass of acquired hares, which is labeled by means of “slaughtering capacity” (percentage ratio of meat carcass weight with internal parts to live weight of the slaughtered animal), at a level slightly exceeding 60% should be considered as average for the species. Somewhat discomposing are the results regarding the lower mass of internal organs; in particular heart and lungs. Those organs condition the possibility of signifi cant locomotive effort, which consequently plays a very important role in emergency situations when the basic defence reaction of a hare is to escape quickly. Obtained results indicate that the hare population in the western part of the Lublin region is characterized by quite high indicators of individual quality, which should have a positive impact on survivability and reproductive potential of the population. Correlation coeffi cients between body weight and the weight of internal organs were in most cases, except for adult hares, high and statistically signifi cant.