BROWN bears, grey wolves and other large carnivores are making a comeback in Europe.

    Scientists studying populations of bears, wolves, Eurasian lynx and wolverines found they have flourished on the continent, decades after being driven almost to extinction by hunting and the destruction of their habitat.

    Surprisingly, the animals aren’t just living in nature reserves or remote wilderness, but appear to co-exist in areas dominated by humans across a third of Europe’s landmass, the authors wrote in the latest edition of journal Science.

    The study found that Europe, excluding Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, “is succeeding in maintaining, and to some extent restoring, large carnivore populations on a continental scale” thanks partly to strong legal protection. Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are the only continental countries to have no permanent breeding populations of at least one large carnivore.

    Some 17,000 brown bears now inhabit much of Scandinavia, the Balkans and even parts of the Alps and the Pyrenees. About 12,000 wolves can be found in those areas.

    Packs have also established themselves in much of eastern Europe, Germany, Italy, France and the Iberian peninsula.

    (SD-Agencies)