In the state of Ohio they wanted to check the accuracy of their deer estimates.  They stocked a fenced-off area with 100 deer, then sent hunters in to count them without telling them how many were in there.  After an exhaustive search, the hunters reported three deer.  The state quickly revised its estimates of the total number of deer in Ohio upwards, quite a bit!

In Kenya people were worried that leopards were going extinct, because so few could be found in wild areas.  Eventually they discovered that the leopards had learned a new survival technique.  They had become far more nocturnal, but in a more startling development they had also moved to inhabited areas, where they lived off stray (and sometimes not stray) dogs and cats.

On the other hand, here is a measure of the deadly effect of human habitations.  The two most flourishing areas for natural wildlife in the world are not parks.  No, they are areas no human visits: The irradiated land around Chernobyl, and the mined no-man's zone between North and South Korea.

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"‘I think he was a silly little man,' said Councillor Tompkins.  ‘Worthless, in fact; no use to Society at all.'

"‘Oh, I don't know,' said Atkins, who was nobody of importance, just a schoolmaster.  ‘I am not so sure: it depends on what you mean by use .'

"‘No practical or economic use,' said Tompkins.  . . .

. . .

"‘It is proving very useful indeed,' said the Second Voice.  ‘As a holiday, and a refreshment.  It is splendid for convalescence; and not only for that, for many it is the best introduction to the Mountains.  It works wonders in some cases.  I am sending more and more there.  They seldom have to come back.'"