Tolerance for predatory wildlife

Treves and Bruskotter examined the psychology and policy of human tolerance for large predators, arguing that tolerance, the willingness to coexist with carnivores, is the decisive factor in their conservation. They reviewed how attitudes, values, perceived risk, social norms, and governance shape whether people accept or kill predators, and cautioned that policies legalising predator killing can erode rather than build tolerance by signalling that predators are undesirable. The article synthesised evidence on what drives acceptance and warned against assuming that lethal management increases social acceptance. Published in Science, it became a widely cited statement that conservation of wolves, big cats, and other predators ultimately hinges on human social tolerance.