Somewhere, I forget where, I saw a picture of a man in Asia working in the forest with a mask of a human face--stuck to the BACK of his head. Turns out that tigers prefer jumping someone who has their back turned, and the mask actually seems to help. Doubt anyone has done a study of it though.

I agree that primitive humans, unless you go way back to the semi-ape stage, probably had methods and plans for dealing with carnivores. For most of recent history, it was killing every one of the carnivores you could get your hands on. Not very environmental, but environmentalism is a luxury reserved for those who have forgotten what it's like not to be on the top of the food chain.