Published November 24, 2016 | Version Final poster
Poster Open

A large carnivore in a peri-urban habitat: the grey wolf (Canis lupus) around Pistoia. Results from a preliminary survey

Creators

  • 1. Istituto di management - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
  • 2. Università degli Studi di Firenze - Scuola di Agraria
  • 3. Castanea Società Cooperativa

Description

The grey wolf (Canis lupus) is a large carnivore, which is becoming relatively common in Central Italy, even in urbanized landscapes. To date, no study explored the attitudes and emotions towards wolves in the peri-urban areas of the Apennines, where the species occurs, nor highlighted differences between hunters and non-hunters. Our work aims to fill this gap by analyzing the results of a preliminary survey (n=406), carried out in Pistoia from May 2015 to April 2016. Questionnaires were semi-quantitative. Illegal killing (43.8%) and hybridization with dogs (38.7%) were deemed the main threats to wolf conservation. Some respondents (24.6%) declared to be afraid of the presence of wolves, but many would also be happy to spot them (66.3%). The Wilcoxon test revealed that those who would be happy to see wolves were younger (W=15331, p < 0.05). A relatively high proportion of respondents reported to have seen or heard wolves (42.5%) and such experience was not independent from emotions like fear (X2=4.92, p < 0.05) or happiness (X2=4.49, p < 0.05). Median regression revealed that happiness towards wolves had a higher power (R2H) than fear (R2F) in explaining the variance in attitudes about coexistence with wolves (R2H =0.23, R2F =0.048), the control of wolves killing livestock (R2H =0.11, R2F =0.079) and wolf hunting (R2H =0.13, R2F =0.08). Hunters and non-hunters had significantly different attitudes about coexistence with wolves (W=18732, p < 0.01), control of problematic wolves (W=7575, p < 0.01) and wolf hunting (W=6809, p < 0.01). However, hunters held neutral attitudes about all the wolf management scenarios and the Potential for Conflict Index (PCI) revealed a lack of agreement about the coexistence with wolves (PCI=0.82) and their numerical control (PCI=0.72). We found a complex role of emotions in shaping human-wolf relationships and non-straightforward attitudes of hunters about wolf management.

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Additional details

References

  • Bassi, E., Willis, S. G.,Passilongo, D., Mattioli, L., & Apollonio, M. (2015). Predicting the spatial distribution of wolf (Canis lupus) breeding areas in a mountainous region of Central Italy. PloS one, 10(6), e0124698.
  • Galaverni, M., Caniglia, R., Fabbri, E., Milanesi, P., & Randi, E. (2016). One, no one, or one hundred thousand: how many wolves are there currently in Italy?. Mammal Research, 61(1), 13-24.
  • Jacobs, M. H., Vaske, J. J., Dubois, S., & Fehres, P. (2014). More than fear: role of emotions in acceptability of lethal control of wolves. European journal of wildlife research, 60(4), 589-598.
  • Manfredo, M., Vaske, J., & Teel, T. (2003). The potential for conflict index: A graphic approach to practical significance of human dimensions research. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 8(3), 219-228.