Taking It Personally

There seem to be a plethora of stories about people being injured or eaten by wild animals. Firstly, there is an account of a fruit picker in Indonesia dying as a result of his wounds after falling from a tree and being savaged by a waiting Komodo dragon (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/24/man-mauled-death-komodo-dragon). Then there was a recent item (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Australia-Crocodile-Attack-Human-Remains-Found-In-Crocodile-Infested-Swamp/Article/200903315242077?f=rss) about an 11 year old girl in Australia swimming in a lake being killed by a crocodile. There is also a graphic picture of a dead Bengal tiger in Assam that had apparently killed two people (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/5042558/Pictures-of-the-day-24-March-2009.html?image=1). These things happen to humans less frequently in modern times and there is no doubt that humans kill many more animals than vice versa but people do get very upset in response to such events. All of these animals are, however, big specialist predators that are only doing what they are designed to do. If we want to conserve them, I am afraid that we have to accommodate occasional human fatalities (although I accept that more can be done to minimise their occurrence- like not putting oneself into the predator's range of available options).