Hunter and Hunted

Humans have mixed emotions concerning carnivores. We admire them as beautiful hunters cosset them as pets and use their pelts and other products in clothing medicines and cosmetics. However they are also responsible for killing us and our livestock carry disease and compete with us for space and food. While some advocate the conservation of predators such as wolves and tigers others see them as vermin and want them gone. In this book Hans Kruuk a life-long naturalist with a passion for predators tells the fascinating story of carnivores and our intricate relationships with them. Illustrated with specially commissioned drawings it deals with the wild beauty of carnivores and their conservation but also with furs and medicine man-eaters and sheep-killers explaining in simple terms what the role of carnivores is in nature how this impacts on human lives our art and literature how we instinctively respond to them and why.