Special Issue Article: Conservation Crime
Tolerance of wolves in Wisconsin: A mixed-methods examination of policy effects on attitudes and behavioral inclinations
Highlights
- •
- Lethal control did not affect attitudes or inclinations to kill wolves illegally.
- •
- Agency trust, risk perception, and empowerment are related to tolerance of wolves.
- •
- Focus groups provide more comprehensive understanding of complex wildlife issues.
Abstract
Numerous
studies report majorities of survey respondents hold positive attitudes
toward wolves. However, a 2001–2009 panel study found declining
tolerance of wolves among residents of Wisconsin’s wolf range. Poaching,
believed to be increasing, has been an important source of mortality in
Wisconsin’s wolf population since the 1980s. We conducted focus groups,
with an accompanying anonymous questionnaire survey of participants,
among farmers and hunters in Wisconsin’s wolf range to gain a more
in-depth understanding of attitudes towards wolves and inclinations to
poach wolves. Whereas our study was originally designed to examine the
effects of an experimental lethal-control program on inclination to
poach, oscillating wolf-management authority shifted our focus from a
single intervention to a suite of changes in policy and management.
Following federal delisting of the Western Great Lakes wolf population
in January 2012, Wisconsin implemented lethal-depredation control and
created the state’s first legalized wolf-harvest season in October 2012.
We convened focus groups before and after these changes. Pre- and
post-survey results showed majorities of respondents held negative
attitudes toward wolves with no decrease in inclination to poach,
suggesting lethal-control measures, in the short term, may be
ineffective for increasing tolerance. Participants expressed favorable
attitudes toward lethal-control measures, but believed there were
limitations in the implementation of the lethal-control measures. Focus
group discussions revealed elements of positivity toward wolves not
revealed by questionnaires, as well as several thematic areas, such as
fear, empowerment, and trust, that may inform the development of
interventions designed to increase tolerance of wolves and other
controversial species.
Keywords
- Attitude;
- Empowerment;
- Focus group;
- Mixed methods;
- Poaching;
- Survey;
- Trust;
- Wolf
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+1 816 868 5342.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
