He won't need a passport or anything

Annette Toernqvist, Swedish Environment Ministry

The Swedish Government said it would welcome and protect the wolf, which is known as Martin, if it crossed the border.

The move comes after wildlife conservation groups in Norway called on the Stockholm government to, in effect, grant the animal political asylum.

The pack to which Martin belonged was accused of killing sheep in the south-eastern Norwegion region of Hedmark, and a cull was ordered.

Annette Toernqvist, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Environment Ministry, said: "Mr Martin is very much welcome in Sweden.

"Wolves move freely over the border between Sweden and Norway... and if he comes to Sweden he won't be killed because we don't have the same kind of hunt they have in Norway.

"He won't need a passport or anything."

The wolves were among those reintroduced to the region in a joint Swedish-Norwegian wolf re-population project in the 1990s.