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

• Main Authors: Cerri, Jacopo, Casini, Luisa, Ciuti, Francesca
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: Zenodo 2016
• Subjects: wolf; canis lupus; human dimensions; surveys; emotions; Potential for Conflict Index; DuBois; Willis; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1744878; https://zenodo.org/record/1744878

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 (X 2 =4.92, p < 0.05) or happiness (X 2 =4.49, p < 0.05). Median regression revealed that happiness towards wolves had a higher power (R 2 H) than fear (R 2 F) in explaining the variance in attitudes about coexistence with wolves (R 2 H =0.23, R 2 F =0.048), the control of wolves killing livestock (R 2 H =0.11, R 2 F =0.079) and wolf hunting (R 2 H =0.13, R 2 F =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. : {"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."]}