Although the published numbers of livestock kills can be inaccurate,
they allow getting an impression of whether livestock losses in a study
are high or low, especially when they are discussed further by the authors.
Our recent studies (Khorozyan et al., 2015a, in press) showed
that the numbers of killed livestock are random and unpredictable
while the binary data of high and low predation can be well described
and predicted by variables. Dietary studies routinely use the correction
factors that estimate the proportions of the numbers of livestock
consumed to the numbers of all prey consumed, which are also useful
for classifying livestock predation as high or low (Marker et al., 2003;
Azevedo, 2008; Athreya et al., in press). The main criterion that we
used to separate the cases of high and low predation was whether the
studied big cat species depended on livestock as staple food (high