Nowhere To Roam

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There is no simple way to reconcile expanding human populations and the territorial requirements of large predators. Whenever a choice has to be made, the needs of humans will trump those of big cats. Even on Mugie Ranch, where tolerance for lions is high, ranch manager Klaus Mortensen recently had to shoot a female lion he knew by name after she took to killing sheep. "If you don't move quickly, they teach the other lions [to do the same]," says Mortensen. Big cats cannot help themselves; they are natural-born killers. To keep them in a world where wilderness areas are shrinking will require all the innovative strategies that conservationists can muster. Otherwise these majestic creatures will end up living out their days in zoos--banished forever from the wild where they belong. --With reporting by Cathy Booth Thomas/Dallas and Simon Robinson/Johannesburg