Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses
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...
Published in: | Sustainability |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062397 |
id |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2071-1050/12/6/2397/ |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2071-1050/12/6/2397/ 2023-08-20T04:10:16+02:00 Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses Linas Balčiauskas Hüseyin Ambarlı Laima Balčiauskienė Guna Bagrade Martynas Kazlauskas Jānis Ozoliņš Diana Zlatanova Agrita Žunna agris 2020-03-19 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062397 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Sustainable Agriculture https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12062397 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sustainability; Volume 12; Issue 6; Pages: 2397 Ursus arctos species acceptance schoolchildren human–carnivore conflict fear Text 2020 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062397 2023-07-31T23:15:29Z 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. Text Ursus arctos MDPI Open Access Publishing Sustainability 12 6 2397 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
Ursus arctos species acceptance schoolchildren human–carnivore conflict fear |
spellingShingle |
Ursus arctos species acceptance schoolchildren human–carnivore conflict fear Linas Balčiauskas Hüseyin Ambarlı Laima Balčiauskienė Guna Bagrade Martynas Kazlauskas Jānis Ozoliņš Diana Zlatanova Agrita Žunna Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses |
topic_facet |
Ursus arctos species acceptance schoolchildren human–carnivore conflict fear |
description |
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. |
format |
Text |
author |
Linas Balčiauskas Hüseyin Ambarlı Laima Balčiauskienė Guna Bagrade Martynas Kazlauskas Jānis Ozoliņš Diana Zlatanova Agrita Žunna |
author_facet |
Linas Balčiauskas Hüseyin Ambarlı Laima Balčiauskienė Guna Bagrade Martynas Kazlauskas Jānis Ozoliņš Diana Zlatanova Agrita Žunna |
author_sort |
Linas Balčiauskas |
title |
Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses |
title_short |
Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses |
title_full |
Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses |
title_fullStr |
Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Love Off, Fear On? Brown Bear Acceptance by Teenagers in European Countries with Differing Population Statuses |
title_sort |
love off, fear on? brown bear acceptance by teenagers in european countries with differing population statuses |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062397 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
Sustainability; Volume 12; Issue 6; Pages: 2397 |
op_relation |
Sustainable Agriculture https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12062397 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062397 |
container_title |
Sustainability |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2397 |
_version_ |
1774724337826267136 |