Author: Rachel Mason, PhD candidate in Conservation Biology, Deakin University

Around the world, humans routinely kill carnivores to protect livestock and game, increase human safety and conserve native wildlife. Unfortunately, killing carnivores often creates new problems including population booms of native and invasive prey species such as rabbits, kangaroos, goats and deer. More herbivores can mean more damage to crops and native vegetation. In many parts of Australia, dingoes, foxes and – to a lesser degree – feral cats are routinely poisoned with 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) to protect livestock and native animals. Predator baiting is sometimes done intensively to help threatened wildlife populations recover after disasters such as the 2019–20…