I am currently reading this book about the five large carnivores of Scandinavia and I am absolutely humbled, both by finding out how little I knew about them, what prejudice I had against them and how people that live in close proximity to them can both love, respect and be angry with them at the same time. I am reading the original release in Swedish.
- What have you encountered in the wild?
- When, where, how?
- What were your initial thoughts, feelings and reactions (physical, psychological, etc.)?
- What do think of them in general? <— this last question applies to everybody, regardless of whether you have seen or met one of these large carnivores or not.
Personally, without having met any one of them, I am humbled, scared, amazed and intrigued by them. I feel for those whose - for instance - livestock are threatened by them, especially if it directly damages business. I also strongly believe that the matter should not be dumbed down to the dichotmy of “ignore those that suffer from them” or “eradicate them”. We are far too intelligent and developed a race to degrade ourselves so.
Australia has none except crocodiles, I have seen crocs in the wild
I saw black bears in Canada from the car
I’m glad the animal we had that was hippo-like in behaviour - a dangerous herbivore - is extinct. We have the old bunyip stories telling us to keep out of swampy parts of rivers.
Some other apex predators probably count as ‘large carnivores’. For example, apart from crocs (especially salties), Wedge-tailed eagles come to mind. They are an apex predator, carnivorous, with a maximum wingspan of almost 3m (which I think counts as large). Arguably a dingo is big enough to count as well (since OP’s link counts wolverines & lynxes).