Over the past 50 years, some of Europe's key animals, such as bears, wolves, lynx, eagles and vultures, are making a comeback and have increased in numbers according to an analysis carried out by the Zoological Society of London, Birdlife and the European Bird Census Council.
Conservationists believe that the recovery of numbers of such species is down to the fact that there is better protection, there are curbs on hunting and, in general, people are moving away from rural areas and into the urban areas.
The largest increases were seen for the European bison, the Eurasian beaver, the white-headed duck, some populations of the pink-footed goose and the barnacle goose, which have seen increases by over 3,000% in the last 50 years. In addition, numbers of predators such as the brown bear have doubled.
The researchers suggest that a combination of factors have helped this resurgence. In particular, legal protection coming from the likes of Directive 2009/147/EC, on the conservation of wild birds, and Directive 1992/43/EEC, on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.
Frans Schepers, director of the Rewilding Europe group which commissioned the study, said, "People have this general picture of Europe that we've lost all our nature and our wildlife. And I think what the rest of the world can learn from this is that conservation actually works. If we have the resources, a proper strategy, if we use our efforts, it actually works."
However, Professor Jonathan Baillie, director of conservation at the Zoological Society of London, warned against complacency. He said, "We just have to be aware that into the future there will be increasing pressure for food production and so on within Europe. And for a lot of these species, where we have seen the gains, we might lose them again if we are not careful. So it's our job to keep our eye on the ball."
