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Demands by Italian farmers for the country's burgeoning wolf population to be culled have been rejected by the government, with a newly launched management plan insisting that man and beast can coexist.

After months of debate, the coalition has come up with a scheme that rejects the shooting, poisoning or trapping of wolves.

Instead, farmers of sheep, goats and other livestock will have to adopt measures to mitigate the risk of their flocks being attacked, such as installing electric fences and using guard dogs.

Protected by law since 1971, wolves are thriving in Italy. There are an estimated 1,580 living in the Apennines, the mountains that run through the length of Italy, while the population in the Alps has more than doubled since 2015, from 130 to nearly 300 animals. Italy has 10pc of the wolf population of Europe, excluding Russia.