“Hunting and habitat loss now threaten 87% of large carnivores worldwide.”  Whenever these words pop out of an article we immediately sit up and take notice. Many biologists have suspected that large carnivores have an extremely complex place in the environment. We already know that predators and prey exist symbiotically, but the research cited in this article shows how they may be instrumental in limiting their own numbers. The fear of large carnivores running rampant across the landscape and threatening humans and their interests  may no longer be a convenient excuse for hunting. Human encroachment, climate change and dwindling prey species may curtail proliferation without deliberate slaughter masquerading as ‘sport’.

http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2015/02/do-big-carnivores-practice-birth-control