The Center for Biological Diversity reports via Common Dreams
Killing predators such as wolves, mountain lions and bears in order to protect livestock may have intuitive appeal, but a rigorous review of multiple studies that was published today shows little or no scientific support that it actually reduces livestock losses. In fact, in some cases it even leads to increases in livestock loss. These conclusions directly counter the reasoning behind the common practice of killing predators in response to livestock depredations--as carried out by the secretive federal program, Wildlife Services, and many state game agencies.
"This study [paywalled] shows that not only is Wildlife Services' annual killing of tens of thousands of wolves, coyotes, bears, bobcats, cougars, and other animals unconscionable--it's also ineffective", said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Our government should ground the aerial snipers, pull the poisons and remove the steel leghold traps in response to these findings."
The unexpected finding that carnivore killings can increase depredations is likely based on disruption of the predators' social dynamics--namely, by removing dominant animals that maintain large territories, these killings release sub-adult animals that are less-skilled hunters and thus more likely to target domestic animals.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday September 04 2016, @09:38PM
That's actually not what I was talking about. If you take a herd of cattle on land barely considered large enough for them and force them back into wild herding behavior via predation, in a very few years you will have a herd several times as large that is able to get by just fine using exactly the same land. The problem is ranchers don't understand how horrible a managed herd is for sustainable ranching of the land vs a herd behaving like a wild herd.
It's counter-intuitive but it's true. You end up better off if predators are eating your cattle occasionally. The cost of a calf here and there is nothing compared to being able to run even as low as twice as many cattle. And you can expect significantly better results than a simple doubling of the land's capacity.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.