Meet the new neighbours: but can we live with bears next door?

If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise – the carnivores are back. But scientists are worried about how we are going to get along

- Robin McKie Science Editor

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.

The continent now has 1,300 wolverines, an increase of 16%, while Europe's population of wild wolves has jumped by 35% to 23,000. Only the golden jackal has done better. Its population which is concentrated in southern Europe now stands at 150,000, a rise of 46% since 2016.

Animals that were once hunted as vermin while their habitats were turned to farmland are returning. The howl of the wolf, the grunt of the bear and the noise of their padding through forests and plains is being heard again across Europe.