Throughout most of the world humans have exterminated carnivores in order to keep their places of habitation safe, and while large carnivores still exist in patches we have a sort of "You keep to your side, I'll keep to my side," sort of attitude towards them. The problem, however, is that we keep expanding our towns and villages out into areas where large carnivores live, some areas experiencing an increased level of conflict. Leopards eat stray dogs in the slums of Mumbai, wolves kill dogs left outside in Alaska, black bears raid trash cans in New Jersey suburbs, and even polar bears are starting to head into towns with a greater frequency as the local ecology changes.
I don't list such incidents to say that we're experiencing some sort of epidemic and that carnivores should again be killed without mercy, but rather that we are changing ecology on local and global scales that can often bring large carnivores into contact with people. Sadly, human deaths do sometimes result due to this close proximity, but carnivores are an essential part of many ecologies and tragedy can often be avoided with proper education and management.
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