Humans and predators have co-existed for thousands of years, the issue at hand is that of space. Man is the ultimate predator and continues to take more and more space to live and farm. In nature the stronger and more aggressive species will always displace the weaker. The difference with humans is that we are (supposedly) intelligent and can make the choice not to wipe out a species. Just look at the success story of the Red Kite on our own doorstep. So in my mind mind, the question is not “is it possible” but “ will we choose to make it possible?”

Agreeing with Pete, I would say not “will” but WHEN.
If we continue to pillage the earth as we are doing the upset of natural balance will effect us to a greater degree than even we can handle.
Why also are we the only animal on the planet that does not self cull, we keep alive the old the infirm, the weak, no other animal does this, no other animal is over populating the planet like we do, in fact far from it, hence the project.

I believe that they can exist together, yes. But we need to learn lessons from the people that live with our largest predators on their doorstep. It appears to me that many decisions about conservation are made by people in affluent societies whose only contact with the problems are here-say. We need more people out in the field looking at REAL problems and trying to find solutions to these, if we are going to make it possible for humans and predators to co exist. Chris’s story of Matunde and his lettuce crop,bring home to us the need to work with local people to get them working with us, not against us in conservation.

Matunde is a great example. If something came and took half of your yearly income you would be pretty upset. The issue here is sorting out the root causes not taking the arrogant western attitude that “it’s wrong to kill animals and everyone that does should be punished” Sort the economies of the poorer nations, help then make best use of natural resources, make the natural world a major part of that economic growth and the conservation part of it will look after itself.