Community attitudes towards Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) and their prey species in Yanbian, Jilin province, a region of northeast China where tigers are returning

Abstract

Community attitudes towards large carnivores are of central importance to their conservation in human-dominated landscapes. In this study, we evaluate community attitudes and perceptions towards the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) and bears (Ursus thibetanus and Ursus arctos), as well as their prey species, namely sika deer (Cervus nippon), roe deer and wild boar (Sus scrofa), in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin province, northeast China. We surveyed 139 households and found that community members’ perceptions of large carnivores and their prey species were influenced by their predominant economic activities; their prior interactions with wildlife; their household income level; and whether they were either long-term residents of Yanbian or had migrated to the region from elsewhere in China. We recorded fairly neutral attitudes towards large carnivores among the communities we surveyed, but strongly negative attitudes were shown towards wild boar, particularly where respondents had lost agricultural products to crop raiding by wild boar. We recommend conservation stakeholders in northeast China utilise this finding to encourage support for large carnivore recovery and conservation by targeting messaging around the importance of the tiger as a key predator of wild boar in the ecosystem. Furthermore, our findings suggest that government provided compensation paid for cattle lost to large carnivore predation (notably, by tigers) may be helping to reduce animosity from cattle owners towards large carnivores. However, we also highlight that compensation for loss of livestock is therefore performing a useful role in mitigating human-wildlife conflict, that there are potentially unintended consequences of the current compensation program, for example it fails to dissuade livestock grazing in protected areas.

The Status of Wildlife Damage Compensation in China

“…For example, different species of wildlife have different biological characteristics, thus involving different degrees of damage severity or acuteness and thus requiring different responses from law enforcement. Many wild animals are aggressive towards humans, especially large mammals can cause serious injuries or even fatalities [40,53]. By contrast, small animals are less dangerous but more abundant, creating serious crop damage which can lead to famines and consequently to human hardships [45,54].…”

“…For instance, Asian elephants in Xishuangbanna Municipality regularly cause serious damage to local crops and property (see Case study 1) [67]. Consequently, farmers have developed strong negative attitudes, specifically towards elephants but also towards wild boar, when agricultural products have been raided [53]. To mitigate these negative consequences for the community's social stability, the local government realized that it is imperative to appropriately and in a timely manner provide legal compensation, to pacify and resolve local disputes, and to thus maintain social harmony and stability.…”

“…Human-wildlife conflict with large mammals occurs mainly in or near nature reserves, as well as in remote mountain areas with a relatively impoverished human population [47]. For example, Hunchun in Jilin Province is a typical area suffering wild boar damage but is also an important region for the conservation of Siberian tiger [53]. Another remote area with a high degree of human-carnivore conflict is the Taxkorgan Nature Reserve in the Pamir and Karkorum Mountains of northwestern China.…”

Transboundary Cooperation in the Tumen River Basin Is the Key to Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus) Population Recovery in the Korean Peninsula

“…In a questionnaire-based survey [ 15 ], residents of villages and hamlets in the Tumen River basin additionally informed us about recent tiger hunting on the North Korean side of the Sino-Korean border. This suggests that big cats can travel through the forests of the Sino-Korean border region to reach North Korean territory.…”