European forests are seeing a spike in large carnivores such as wolves, brown bears and lynx, researchers found in a new study.

According to the Guardian, authors of a study published in the journal Science contradicted the belief that a growing human population is putting wildlife in danger. The researchers believe their study proves that the predators can coexist in a world becoming increasingly populated.

For their study, they counted 17,000 brown bears in Europe, 12,000 wolves, 9,000 Eurasian lynx and 1,250 wolverines. They found wolves to be living in areas populated by about 3,000 people per square kilometer. The average population in Europe for areas with wolves is 37 people per square km.

"In order to have wolves we don't need to remove people from the landscape," study lead author Guillaume Chapron, of the University of Agricultural Sciences, told the Guardian. "I'm not saying it's a peace and love story - coexistence often means conflict - but it's important to manage that conflict, keep it at a low level and resolve the problems it causes. Wolves can be difficult neighbors.

"We shouldn't be talking about people-predator conflict; we have conflict between people about predators. These animals are symbolic of difficult questions about how we should use the land."

Chapron told LiveScience that Europe does not "have unspoiled, untouched areas." He and the rest of the multi-institutional team pulled wildlife population data from almost every European nation, excluding Russia, Ukraine and Belrus. They found all nations except Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark to have a permanent area designated for the breeding of the four carnivores involved in the study.

"But what is interesting is, that does not mean we do not have carnivores. Au contraire; we have many carnivores," he said. "There is a need to keep the conflict at a low intensity.

"We have found a recipe that works."