A wildlife researcher who lived at Bwindi for several months told me from her home in Massachusetts that it never occurred to her she was taking a chance.

Yet wildlife researchers say that such efforts tend to be more popular than other conservation techniques, like those that rely on legislation and public education.

The speaker, Esme, is discussing her "white baboon family," a tiny, incestuous community of expatriates, relief workers, wildlife researchers and journalists living in Nairobi.

This multi-state project involves collaborative research by unbiased livestock and wildlife researchers.

"I think the position we're trying to take is that we want to get back something that was extirpated, most probably by human factors," said Ms. Shenk, the wildlife researcher.

"They don't know where a handout ends and a hand begins," said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife researcher who has studied alligators and crocodiles.

Since then a couple of wildlife researchers have been stationed at the beach to observe the walruses.

Efforts to develop a leopard conservation program in the mid-1990s were shelved when wildlife researchers concluded that there was little prospect for the animal's long-term survival.

Over the last 20 years Chris has worked as a wildlife researcher, wilderness guide, and environmental educator on every continent where bears exist.

Many wildlife researchers acknowledge that wolves kill livestock, but add that the impact is relatively minor.