Populations of large carnivores are declining globally for a variety of reasons like habitat degradation, hunting, disease and the commercial trade of body parts. But the most important threat to the conservation of large carnivores is that they are frequently in conflict with humans.

The main conflict with humans is due to competition for resources like livestock and wild prey species. It is essential for conservation to determine the factors affecting conflict between large carnivores and humans in the periphery of protected areas and to incorporate local communities in the process of carnivore conservation. This type of conflict is widespread in countries like Argentina that have a large proportion of territory in rangelands and particularly on the edges of protected areas where carnivores are more abundant.

The main aim of this work is to study the factors that affect livestock predation by large carnivores in two protected areas in central and southern Argentina and to propose solutions that promote coexistence with local people and enhance carnivore conservation inside and outside protected areas.