By the beginning of the 20th century the lynx, wolf and bearded vulture had disappeared from Switzerland and the whole of the Alps. Only brown bears survived as a relict population in the Italian Alps. The recent increase in the populations of large carnivore all over Europe has also affected the Alps and Switzerland. The four species discussed here are coming back: the lynx and the bearded vulture through re-introductions, the wolf and the brown bear by natural immigration. Their reappearance also revives many of the potential conflicts between humans and large carnivores. We describe briefly the history of the extermination of the four species in the Alps and in Switzerland and their recovery at the end of the 20th century, and define the most prominent reasons for conflicts. The red fox has never disappeared from Switzerland. However, the population developed very dynamically during the 20th century due to a rabies epizootic, on the one hand, and an increase in the carrying capacity of the habitat, on the other.