National park Hoge Veluwe has been refused permission to chase or shoot the wolves, which it says are decimating the mouflon sheep population.

The Gelderland provincial authorities have said the privately owned park will have to abide by the rules and not take any action on its own behalf.

Wolves are a protected species, and although their status is currently under discussion at a European level, no decision has yet been made and until that happens, the park cannot touch the wolves, the province said.

Park director and landowner Seger Emmanuel Baron van Voorst tot Voorst has been campaigning against the presence of wolves for years, saying the park was “not the Serengeti”.

According to the park authorities, some 15 wolves have jumped over the park’s fences and made it their home. The park’s website claims the wolves started by eating the mouflon sheep and then moved on to deer and boars.

By eating the sheep, the wolves are endangering biodiversity, the park says. The animals have a key role in keeping down unwanted vegetation, which gives other species of plants and animals a chance to flourish.

Mouflon sheep, unlike the wolf, have never been indigenous to the Netherlands but have been roaming the Veluwe heathlands for the past 100 years.

This means the level of protection of the sheep is lower than that of the wolves, something that the “naturalisation” of the animal could change, nature junior minister Jean Rummenies has suggested. This would effectively pit two protected species against each other.

The park authorities have said they are studying the provincial authorities’ decision.