Wolves were once present in Great Britain. Early writing from Roman and later Saxon chronicles indicate that wolves appear to have been extraordinarily numerous on the island. Unlike other British animals, wolves were unaffected by island dwarfism, with certain skeletal remains indicating that they may have grown as large as Arctic wolves. The species, which frequently desecrated burial sites and was a threat to livestock and human life, was exterminated from Britain through a combination of deforestation and active hunting through bounty systems.