"Rapid Loss of Top Predators ‘A Major Environmental Threat’"

"The rapid loss of top predators such as dingoes, leopards and lions is causing an environmental threat comparable to climate change, an international group of scientists has warned."

"A study by researchers from Australia, the US and Europe found that removing large carnivores, which has happened worldwide in the past 200 years, causes a raft of harmful reactions to cascade through food chains and landscapes.

Small animals are picked off by feral pests, land is denuded of vegetation as herbivore numbers increase and streams and rivers are even diverted as a result of this loss of carnivores, the ecologists found."

Oliver Milman reports for the Guardian January 9, 2014.

SEE ALSO:

"When Big Carnivores Go Down, Even Vegetarians Take The Hit" (NPR)

"Large Carnivores Disappearing From the Earth" (ENS)