Introduction
The question of coexistence with wildlife is not a trivial matter. An expanding human population coupled with a vast reduction of wild habitat has consequences for every aspect of our biotic world, not least of which are global increases in human–wildlife conflict (HWC; Nyhus 2016). Although conflict occurs between humans and diverse wildlife, HWC with large-bodied predators is particularly salient because of potential for loss of life and the fear associated with it. Combined with habitat loss, intensive predator control to protect livestock over the past few thousand years, and especially the last ~200, has vanquished apex predators in most landscapes. Today, 64% of Carnivora species are threatened with extinction and 80% are in decline— arguably ‘humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world’ with cascading effects on biodiversity, ecological resilience, process, and function (Estes et al., 2011: 301; Ripple et al., 2014; Wolf & Ripple et al., 2018). These facts are at the heart of many rewilding campaigns, hence the emphasis on the repatriation and restoration of apex Carnivora (Foreman, 2004; Berger, 2007; Ripple et al., 2014).