Public perceptions and attitudes toward urban wildlife encounters – A decade of change

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dc.contributor.authorBasak, Sayantani M.
dc.contributor.authorHossain, Md. Sarwar
dc.contributor.authorO'Mahony, Declan T.
dc.contributor.authorOkarma, Henryk
dc.contributor.authorWidera, Elżbieta
dc.contributor.authorWierzbowska, Izabela A.
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-17T15:14:32Z
dc.date.available2022-05-17T15:14:32Z
dc.date.issued2022-05-04
dc.descriptionPublication history: Accepted - 26 April 2022; Published online - 4 May 2022.en_US
dc.description.abstractEurope is currently undergoing dynamic land use changes causing the expansion of urban habitat, which is driving wildlife species to colonise conurbations, resulting in an increased likelihood of human-wildlife conflict (HWC). Understanding people's attitudes toward wildlife is essential to manage these conflicts. This study assessed people's attitudes toward urban wildlife, the types of conflicts that existed, preferences for managing conflict situations, and determined any changes in perceptions of urban wildlife over a decade. A questionnaire survey of residents of Krakow, the second-largest city in Poland, was conducted in 2010 (n = 721) and repeated in 2020 (n =887). We found that encounters with certain urban wildlife such as wild boars, red squirrels, roe deer, brown hares, and red foxes had increased significantly in 2020 compared to 2010. Respondents reported that wild boar and beavers did not show fear when encountering humans. Stone martens were considered the most nuisance wildlife species in 2010, while in 2020 wild boar were the most conflictual wildlife species. There were additional reports of conflicts with roe deer and red foxes. The most frequent HWC responses were personal anxiety, intrusion into property and destruction of crops, which increased significantly over the decade, independent of respondents' gender. Respondents preferred nonlethal methods to mitigate conflicts. The study provides valuable information and knowledge on changes in people's attitudes toward urban wildlife that can help with wildlife management in urban areas. Incorporating perception and attitude data fromthe public, along with a multi-stakeholder approach that includes wildlife professionals, in the planning and design of future urban environments is critical to minimise HWC.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe paper was supported by the project ATUT PhD Programme in Biology. The project is co-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund – _Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development Axis III Higher Education for Economy and Development, Action 3.2 PhD Programme. The open-access publication of this article was funded by the programme “Excellence Initiative – Research University” at the Faculty of Biology of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.en_US
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/434
dc.identifier.citationBasak, S.M., Hossain, Md.S., O’Mahony, D.T., Okarma, H., Widera, E. and Wierzbowska, I.A. (2022) ‘Public perceptions and attitudes toward urban wildlife encounters – A decade of change’, Science of The Total Environment. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155603.en_US
dc.identifier.issn0048-9697
dc.identifier.issn1879-1026 (electronic)
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155603
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rights© 2022 The Authors.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.en_US
dc.subjectHuman-wildlife conflictsen_US
dc.subjectNuisance wildlifeen_US
dc.subjectPolanden_US
dc.subjectQuestionnaire surveyen_US
dc.subjectStone martenen_US
dc.subjectWild boaren_US
dc.titlePublic perceptions and attitudes toward urban wildlife encounters – A decade of changeen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dcterms.dateAccepted2022-04-26
dcterms.dateSubmitted2021-11-30

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