Residents’ support for wolf and bear conservation: the moderating influence of knowledge

Abstract

This article examines the combined influence of cognitions (i.e., impact beliefs) and affect (i.e., feelings) on normative beliefs (i.e., support for management options) about wolves and brown bears. Data were obtained from stratified random face-to-face interviews (n=1,611). The survey was conducted in the Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park (central Italy), where people have a long history of coexistence with large carnivores. Knowledge was hypothesized to moderate the relationships of beliefs and feelings on support for management actions. Path analyses supported the role of affect in mediating perceived impact beliefs and support for the protection of large carnivores. Knowledge moderated these relationships in the case of wolves but not brown bears. Residents of the national park had more knowledge about bears than wolves, which might partly explain both the stronger effect that knowledge had on the affective component and its lack of a moderating effect on the bear model. Overall, our findings show the positive attitude of residents toward large carnivores and support the idea of affect being more important than cognition in predicting normative beliefs.

One, no one, or one hundred thousand: how many wolves are there currently in Italy?

“…Packs from Alessandria Province have been included in the Apennine sector, as indicated in b The stable pack documented on Monti Lessini is mostly located in Veneto region, thus there included c The trans-regional Beigua pack has been included in Liguria region d Seven trans-regional packs have been included in the Emilia-Romagna region counts, as well as the estimated number of individuals and human activities: with hunters, because of the possible competition for the same prey; with livestock breeders, for the economic losses caused by predations on domestic herds; and with the general public, since people can feel the carnivores' presence as a potential threat to their safety (Glikman et al 2012). These attitudes often result in high levels of poaching and illegal persecution ).…”

Local attitudes toward Apennine brown bears: Insights for conservation issues

“…The current range of the PNALM is 507 km 2 , plus an additional 787 km 2 of external buffer zone, with an average human population density of 14.6 inhabitants per km 2 (Ciucci et al, 2015). Other details on the areas' human and physical geography can be found in Glikman, Vaske, Bath, Ciucci, and Boitani (2012) and Ciucci, Tosoni, Di Domenico, Quattrociocchi, and Boitani (2014); Ciucci et al (2015).…”

Social factors mediating human–carnivore coexistence: Understanding thematic strands influencing coexistence in Central Romania

“…Protecting bears is good, but it's somehow overprotected, Sir (MIH1;N) attachments to nature (see results section). These values may be more important drivers of people's perceptions towards carnivores than perceived damage risks (Lagendijk and Gusset 2008;Glikman et al 2012;Dickman et al 2014). Moreover, in intact social-ecological systems, cultural tolerance to carnivores is not uncommon (Lagendijk and Gusset 2008), which can reduce carnivore extinction risk (Karanth et al 2010).…”

“…Moreover, in intact social-ecological systems, cultural tolerance to carnivores is not uncommon (Lagendijk and Gusset 2008), which can reduce carnivore extinction risk (Karanth et al 2010). Coexistence with carnivores over long periods of time thus may be facilitated through maintaining genuine links to nature, thereby shaping the emotional component of human culture to accept and adapt to human-bear coexistence (Glikman et al 2012). …”