Hunted predators: Charisma confounds

In their Perspective “When the hunter becomes the hunted” (19 June, p. 1312), R. Woodroffe and S. M. Redpath rightly pointed out that a social consensus, in addition to scientific evidence, is critical to effectively control species deemed overabundant, such as some predators, because social conflicts over the need for control undermine management decisions. We stress here that social acceptability is not a sufficient criterion to prevent misguided lethal management of wildlife pests, as acceptability subjectively depends on the target species' charisma.