Characterizing the trophy hunting debate on Twitter

Evans, Luke C.; Greenwell, Matthew P.; Boult, Victoria L.; Johnson, Thomas F.

doi:10.1111/cobi.14070

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Acceptability was generally higher for hunts that would produce tangible benefits for local people and when revenues would help support public service provision via wildlife conservation or economic development rather than help support private hunting enterprises (figures 3 and 5 ). These findings suggest members of external urban publics adopt more pragmatic stances than are typically evident in media coverage and social media exchanges that leave little room for context and nuance [ 13 , 16 , 17 ]. Furthermore, generally higher acceptability when hunts provide tangible local benefits reveals similarities in perceptions among participants in our study and people living in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa who consider hunting to be an economically valuable and acceptable component of well-regulated community-led wildlife management systems [ 24 , 29 , 37 – 39 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much of the public debate surrounding trophy hunting in sub-Saharan Africa occurs on social and in traditional media [5,[15][16][17]. Many of the most outspoken contributors are based outside of sub-Saharan Africa, including the UK and USA.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social media exchanges tend to be polarized and acrimonious, reflecting these divergent positions [ 5 , 16 , 17 ]. Traditional media coverage tends to present a simplistic narrative that trophy hunting is categorically immoral and detrimental to wildlife conservation [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Public perceptions of trophy hunting are pragmatic, not dogmatic

Hare,

Dickman,

Johnson

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Fierce international debates rage over whether trophy hunting is socially acceptable, especially when people from the Global North hunt well-known animals in sub-Saharan Africa. We used an online vignette experiment to investigate public perceptions of the acceptability of trophy hunting in sub-Saharan Africa among people who live in urban areas of the USA, UK and South Africa. Acceptability depended on specific attributes of different hunts as well as participants' characteristics. Zebra hunts were more acceptable than elephant hunts, hunts that would provide meat to local people were more acceptable than hunts in which meat would be left for wildlife, and hunts in which revenues would support wildlife conservation were more acceptable than hunts in which revenues would support either economic development or hunting enterprises. Acceptability was generally lower among participants from the UK and those who more strongly identified as an animal protectionist, but higher among participants with more formal education, who more strongly identified as a hunter, or who would more strongly prioritize people over wild animals. Overall, acceptability was higher when hunts would produce tangible benefits for local people, suggesting that members of three urban publics adopt more pragmatic positions than are typically evident in polarized international debates.

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