Abstract The current protected area (PA) network is not sufficient to ensure long-term persistence of wide-ranging carnivore populations. Within India, this is particularly the case for species that inhabit nonforested areas since PAs disproportionately over-represent forested ecosystems. With growing consideration of human-use landscapes as potential habitats for adaptable large carnivores, India provides a model for studying them in densely populated landscapes, where there is little understanding about human-carnivore interactions in shared spaces.