Dutch provinces have shot down their own plan to introduce new guidelines about the management of wolves ahead of the vote on Thursday.

The plan is too strict for some and doesn’t go far enough for others, and five of the 12 provinces have said they would not vote in favour of the new plan, Nieuwsuur reported.

BBB deputies in Gelderland, Groningen, Overijssel and Drenthe, and Friesland’s ChristenUnie deputy said “a clear framework” is missing from the plan. The BBB is in favour of shooting “problem wolves” but the plan, which was two years in the making, is vague about what constitutes a problem wolf, the officials said.

They are also angry about a paragraph stating that farmers who have not taken precautionary measures, such as electrified fences, will no longer be able to claim compensation.

The number of wolf attacks on cattle is increasing, with almost 500 in the first nine months of this year, figures from the provincial wolf monitoring body Bij12 show.

The European Commission this week voted to downgrade the wolf from “strictly protected” to “protected”. This opens door to possible culls on the condition that they do not endanger the entire wolf population.

Now that the first attempt at national rules have foundered, BBB deputies are looking to fellow BBB member and  junior farm minister Jean Rummenie to come up with a  clear definition of a problem wolf to incorporate in the plan.

A spokesman for the ministry said the junior minister would brief MPs about developments before Christmas.