Examining attention given to threats to elephant conservation on social media

Hammond, Niall L.; Dickman, Amy; Biggs, Duan

doi:10.1111/csp2.12785

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Here, consideration could be turned toward the common factual claims made online about trophy hunting, their alignment with current conservation evidence, and methods to deliver conservation evidence effectively in online discussion. Steps toward more formal analysis of conservation topics as they are discussed on social media are starting to be produced (Hammond et al., 2022), and we think such work can be beneficial.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focused on the social networking site Twitter. We contend that the content of tweets (messages shared on Twitter) provides useful data for understanding public perceptions of conservation and is an important subject of study (Hammond et al., 2022) because, ultimately, public opinion affects conservation outcomes—as demonstrated by the apparent public support (Survation, 2021) of proposed legislation to ban trophy hunting imports (UK Parliament, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterizing the trophy hunting debate on Twitter

Evans

Greenwell

Boult

et al. 2023

Conservation Biology

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the trophy hunting debate on Twitter

Evans

Greenwell

Boult

et al. 2023

Conservation Biology

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“…Southern African nations, including South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania are particularly popular destinations for hunters seeking African trophies, with hunters typically travelling from North America and Europe (IFAW, 2016;Snyman et al, 2021). In 2014, Botswana imposed a moratorium on hunting but lifted it in 2019 amid controversy that illustrates differences in local versus external perspectives on TH (Velempini, 2021;Hammond et al, 2022). Further afield, Pakistan (especially for argali (Ovis ammon) and markhor), Scotland (red deer and red grouse (Logopus lagopus), England (fallow (Dama dama) and non-native muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) and Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis)), the USA and Canada (including white-tailed deer, moose (Alces alces), bears (American black bear, brown bear and polar bear) and cougar (Felis concolor)) and New Zealand (especially non-native red and fallow deer, tahr, chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) and wild goat (Capra)) are all popular destinations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ten years of coverage of trophy hunting in UK newspapers

Yeomans¹,

Hare²,

Dröge³

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Hunting is an increasingly contentious topic. Trophy hunting, whereby people hunt individual animals with desirable characteristics in order to keep body parts (e.g. horns, heads, hides, antlers) as mementos, is especially contested. Political pressure, often in the form of trophy import bans, is being applied in multiple nations, and campaigns to ban trophy hunting, or trophy imports, attract considerable media attention. However, trophy hunting often has conservation value, acting to protect habitat and provide income for local communities. Assuming that media coverage can influence public and political opinion, negative or simplistic media coverage of trophy hunting has the potential to cause adverse outcomes for conservation and local communities. Here, we analyse coverage of trophy hunting from July 2010 - June 2020 (five years before and five years after the death of Cecil the Lion) in the most popular UK media outlets (624 articles in total), assessing the overall sentiment of each article, and the species and countries covered. Ninety percent of all coverage occurred after the death of Cecil the lion, marking this event as a watershed moment in UK mainstream media depiction of trophy hunting. The overall sentiment of articles was largely against trophy hunting (63.1%), and this was more pronounced in tabloids (84.2%) than broadsheets (42.2%). Pro-trophy hunting articles were very uncommon overall (3.5%). Articles that described the complexity of trophy hunting decreased following Cecil and were most common in pre-Cecil broadsheets (35.7%, dropping to 30.6%) and rarest in post-Cecil tabloids (3.1%). Articles focussed mainly on charismatic but rarely hunted species including lion, elephant and rhino, with commonly hunted species (such as impala or Cape buffalo) only rarely being mentioned. When countries were mentioned, southern African nations predominated, with four nations (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana) being named in 68% of qualifying articles. We conclude that simplistic media depiction of trophy hunting has the potential to cause negative outcomes for conservation through its impact on public perception and political opinion.

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“…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%

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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Examining attention given to threats to elephant conservation on social media

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

Characterizing the trophy hunting debate on Twitter

Characterizing the trophy hunting debate on Twitter

Ten years of coverage of trophy hunting in UK newspapers

Public perceptions of trophy hunting are pragmatic, not dogmatic

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