During the colonial periods of Africa and India there are often stories of "big game hunters" being summoned to a particular rural area to hunt and kill a dangerous animal. Such as the following instances
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man-eaters_of_Tsavo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigers_of_Chowgarh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_of_Gummalapur
Why was calling in an outsider the course of action chosen to rid these communities of these animals?
What did these communities do before colonization to defend or hunt these animals?
Further what did European and Native American communities do against dangerous predators before the invention of firearms?
Finally is there any idea of how much of a danger non "man-eating" predators were regarding with by these early communities? For example you still hear stories semi-often of mountain lions and bears mauling hikers or bikers in nature preserves, did this happen to ordinary townsfolk as well?
I can speak for the Indian predators specifically. In both cases, the animals were found to be wounded and unable to hunt properly- presumably after getting in fight with another wild animal. In this situation, the animal almost 'learns' to eat humans (whom they are usually afraid of) because humans make easy preys. Non- man- eating animals weren't much threat at all.
During colonization, British officers were often called upon because they had access to firearms large enough to hunt big predators. Jim Corbett in particular, was a proficient hunter (one of India's largest national parks is named after him).