Europe’s big carnivores are on the rise – but can we live with bears next door?

Numbers of animals once hunted as vermin are rising across the continent. But scientists worry about how we are going to get along with these predators

Europe's carnivores have had a remarkable change in fortune. After tens of thousands of years of persecution that wiped out sabretooth tigers, hyenas and cave lions, there has been a recent rebound in the continent's surviving predators.

Across mainland Europe, bear, wolf, lynx and wolverine numbers have risen dramatically as conservation measures introduced several decades ago have begun to make an impact. There are now about 20,500 brown bears in Europe, a rise of 17% since 2016, while there are 9,400 Eurasian lynx, a 12% increase.