Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses

• Published in: Sustainability
• Main Authors: Linas Balčiauskas, Hüseyin Ambarlı, Laima Balčiauskienė, Guna Bagrade, Martynas Kazlauskas, Jānis Ozoliņš, Diana Zlatanova, Agrita Žunna
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020
• Subjects: ursus arctos; species acceptance; schoolchildren; human–carnivore conflict; fear; Environmental effects of industries and plants; TD194-195; Renewable energy sources; TJ807-830; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Ursus arctos
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062397; https://doaj.org/article/1bf116bd1a61476a8cfd42e626b0fd13

The acceptance of large carnivores is one of the key issues for their conservation. We analyzed the level acceptance of brown bears ( Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) amongst 10−18 year old school students in four European countries using anonymous questionnaires. Our aim was to characterize the drivers of species acceptance, described as a rural−urban cline, as well as fear levels and the respondents’ familiarity with bears. We found lower levels of acceptance of bears were related to fear of bears and that bear acceptance was not higher in the bear-inhabited countries, but urban inhabitants tended to better accept the species. Factor analysis revealed the importance of country-related aspects, familiarity with bears, experiences in human-wildlife conflict, gender-age differences, respondent’s relationship to nature and the origin of their knowledge of the species. We consider that bear-related education and mass media in Latvia and Lithuania could reduce fear of these animals and sustain their acceptance, while human−wildlife conflict management measures in Bulgaria and Turkey are recommended to boost the appreciation of the species.