Hunted predators: Intrinsic value—Response

Our Perspective highlighted the need to base predator management on scientific evidence that is not only technically sound, but also accepted by stakeholders. M. Delibes-Mateos et al. argue that social acceptability alone is insufficient to justify control efforts. We entirely agree. As we explained in our Perspective, controlling populations of predators (and, by extension, other species with strong ecological interactions) can have unintended ecological consequences. Hence, decisions about control efforts should be informed by evidence of the likely impacts.