The positive experience of encountering wolves in the wild

• Published in: Conservation Science and Practice
• Main Authors: Ugo Arbieu, Jörg Albrecht, Marion Mehring, Nils Bunnefeld, Ilka Reinhardt, Thomas Mueller
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: attitudes; emotions; human‐wildlife interactions; social survey; Ecology; QH540-549.5; General. Including nature conservation; geographical distribution; QH1-199.5; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.184; https://doaj.org/article/b06d77c88d6b4603a369c81aa70e2562

Abstract Large carnivores often impact human livelihoods and well‐being. Previous research has mostly focused on the negative impacts of large carnivores on human well‐being but has rarely considered the positive aspects of living with large carnivores. In particular, we know very little on people's direct experiences with large carnivores like personal encounters and on people's awareness and tolerance toward their exposure to large carnivores. Here, we focus on the wolf (Canis lupus), and report on a phone survey in Germany. We examined whether encounters with wolves were positive or negative experiences and quantified people's awareness and tolerance related to their exposure to wolves. We found that the majority of people reported positive experiences when encountering wolves, regardless of whether wolves were encountered in the wild within Germany, in the wild abroad, or in captivity. The frequency of encounters did not affect the probability to report positive, neutral, or negative experiences. Moreover, people in Germany expressed a high tolerance of living in close vicinity to wolves. These findings are novel and important because they highlight the positive aspects of living in proximity with large carnivores in human‐dominated landscapes.