After wolves swooped from the forest and savaged her lambs, Austrian sheep farmer Renate Pilz feels like giving up. Others, to the anger of conservationists, are reaching for their rifles.

"I lost two ewes and two lambs" to the wolf attack last year, the 55-year-old said at her farm in the village of Arbesbach.

She showed AFP photos of her animals, bleeding and so badly bitten that they had to be put down.

"It's too much work, it's no longer profitable and, above all, I don't want to do it any more," she said.

After disappearing in the 19th century, wolves have gradually returned to Austria in recent years. The number rose to 104 this year, up from an estimated 80 in 2022.

In response to a reported increase in attacks on livestock, several Austrian regions have authorised the controversial killing of wolves.

Environmental groups say the move violates European law, which lists them as protected animals.

Swelling wolf populations have dominated the headlines in the Alpine country and stirred........

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