Lidl has withdrawn hare meat from sale in the UK following protests from customers and animal campaigners.

The German discounter began a trial selling frozen hare meat in its UK stores at the end of last year, but this week said it was ending the trial.

In a letter to animal pressure group Viva!, Lidl spokeswoman Melanie Fillmore said the supermarket had committed to stop the hare trial following "a number of customer requests". "Please rest assured we will not do it again in the future," she wrote. She also acknowledged the animal welfare concerns outlined by Viva!, which included worries over declining hare populations.

It is understood Lidl was selling imported Argentinian hare meat in a number of UK stores, but Viva! argued that wild hare populations in the South American country have plummeted by up to 80% within the last decade and said hunting the animals should not be encouraged.

Viva! welcomed Lidl's swift decision to remove the products, and said the retailer's response meant no wider-scale protests were necessary. "We were shocked when we discovered that frozen hare meat was being sold, so wrote to Lidl respectfully asking it remove it from stores immediately," said the organisation's campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell. "We welcome its ethical decision to withdraw the product. We ask consumers everywhere not to buy hare meat, and better still, go vegetarian."

Some 200,000-300,000 hares are shot annually in the UK, according to Viva!, which said the brown hare was the only game species without the basic legal protection of a closed season.

The move was further evidence of the lack of appetite among British consumers for killing wildlife for food, Kerswell added. He cited crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo meat as examples of meats that had failed to take off in supermarkets.

Lidl was unavailable for comment this week.