Germany moves to legalise wolf hunting in response to livestock ‘bloodlust’

Wolves were declared extinct in Germany in the 19th century, but there were more than 200 packs in the country last year. Photograph: Beavers Loulou/Arterra Picture Library/Alamy

Wolf hunting will be allowed in Germany under legislation passed by the lower house of parliament in response to a rapidly growing population and a sharp rise in attacks on livestock.

The return and growth of the wolf population in the last three decades has emerged as a wedge issue in Germany, the land of the Brothers Grimm who popularised the spectre of the Big Bad Wolf.