The European Union proposal was adopted after farmers — who have been increasingly angered by attacks on livestock by packs of wolves — pushed to allow culls.

Wolves in Europe will be less protected from hunting from 2025, after a majority of European countries on Tuesday accepted a proposal to downgrade their status due to their growing number and their impact on agriculture and farming livestock.

This would remove many of the safeguards which have allowed the animals to flourish in Europe – if wolves lose their current status, each EU country would be able to set an annual quota of wolves to kill.