Research overview: identifying and managing problem individuals among big cats

This overview synthesises research on the concept of problem individuals, specific big cats responsible for repeated attacks on livestock or people, and how to identify and manage them. It reviews evidence that depredation and man-eating often concentrate in a small number of habitual offenders, frequently injured, old, or food-stressed animals, and that targeting these individuals can resolve conflict more effectively and humanely than indiscriminate persecution. The literature discusses forensic identification through tracks, DNA, camera traps, and attack patterns, and the options of removal, captivity, or selective lethal control. The survey frames problem-animal management as a precision approach that, done rigorously, protects both people and the wider predator population.