Perspective: Why might removing carnivores maintain or increase risks for domestic animals?

Abstract

Human-carnivore conflict is still characterized by lethal control, even while some evidence suggests that carnivore removal may not affect the likelihood of future livestock predation, or that it may even exacerbate the problem. Here we propose five non-exclusive, and likely additive, hypotheses for why lethal removals could fail to mitigate livestock-carnivore conflict. We also propose a methodological change in the scale of conflict analyses from populations to smaller social networks, and encourage public education that includes discussions about the potential consequences for communities with livestock following the killing of carnivores, in addition to broader outreach about both the costs and benefits of living with carnivores.