Where does the deep rooted human hate for natural predators come from?

Question

Natural Predators such as the wolf, bear, cougar, etc. If your answer goes something like "because they are a danger to us", then why have many other culures in history been able to live peacefully with these natural predators?

does the hate come from Ideology? Competition? or an ignorance and fear of certain animals without an understanding of them?

Answer 1

I lived in the Northern woods on Minnesota/Canadian border for many years. Wolves as big as small ponies, Coyotes and Black Bear abounded the area, along with A Wolverine or two, Cougar, and smaller predators.

       I've had Black bear between me and the kids when they were small, by our garden and had to chase it away with shovel. A Black Bear female made nightly raids into my garbage can at night until I let it have a load of fine bird shot in the butt, while she was in my garbage can up to her back end.

        I've been stalked by a huge Black Bear male, for days while I cut wood. I kept my rifle nearby because this is not a normal act with these animals and, this one did scare me.

        The only predator I didn't like was the human hunter that would fill the woods in the fall. They shot at anything that moved, I worried about our horses, we had six. They tossed out their garbage on the roads, they left rotting deer caresses and once, one shot a Moose and left it to rot.

        I've had rifle bullets come across my head, reminded me of 'Nam again.

        The only natural predetor I don't like in the woods is man.

Answer 2

I have often pondered this myself & have concluded some of it is fear & folklore, while some is due to competition. Because so much of our religious folklore came from a pastorial culture that depended upon animals that were likely to be prey for other predators, these predators were villified by those cultures.

I suspect predators that hunt by ambush would inspire quite a bit of fear too.  While I love to watch predators in the wild, I had no urge to "pet the kitty" when I saw a siberian tiger in the old USSR.

Answer 3

WE SEE THEM AS PREDATORS AND THEY SEE US AS PREY.

Answer 4

All humans. wherever they arised, faced huge natural predators.  Before humans took themselves out of the food chain, natural predators claimed approximately 7 out of 12 of our young.  After we organized and were able to defend ourselves as a group against these creatures, they loss dominance and evolved to be smaller.  For example, in the U.S. prairies, there was a nine foot long BEAVER!!!!  Natural predators existed everywhere in the world and no longer exist.  They became extinct or evolved into smaller animals.  They changed after they lost dominance in the food chain.  Eight - ten thousand years ago, European humans were dealing with THIS guy, the sabre - tooth tiger:

http://laelaps.files.wordpress.com/2007/...

http://www.paleofun.com/exhibits/prehist...

Answer 5

Europeans in America conquered a new land and that is different than thousands of years where the predators and humans had established some sort of equilibrium.  The Europeans were more interested in reshaping the land and its wildlife.