Intention to kill: Tolerance and illegal persecution of Sumatran tigers and sympatric species

Abstract

Tolerance may lessen when wildlife adversely impacts people. Models from psychology can help elucidate how people make judgments, why they act accordingly, and whether beliefs and norms influence support for policy and intervention. Working in a globally important region for tigers, we estimated hunting prevalence for this endangered species and three sympatric taxa using methods for asking sensitive questions. We also investigated the relative strength of ethnicity and social‐psychological predictors in influencing intention to hunt. Men's behavioral intention and perceptions differed by species: proconservation values were most prevalent for tiger, weakest for wild boar. Perceived behavioral control was the strongest predictor of hunting‐intention; affect and injunctive norms were also important. The prominence of affect in determining intention suggests increasing environmental knowledge is unlikely to curb hunting. However, existing norms could be leveraged to incentivize behaviorchange. Integrating behavior‐change models into conservation science is crucial where strategies require changes in people's actions.

Audience segmentation to improve targeting of conservation interventions for hunters

“…Many aspects of behavior are likely to be underpinned by psychographic traits such as risk attitudes and personality (Boslaugh et al 2005;Hunecke et al 2010;Wolff et al 2010) and an understanding of these could generate deeper insight for intervention design. Moving beyond socioeconomic descriptions toward approaches drawing on behavioral theory and fields such as psychology may do much to improve intervention design (Saunders et al 2006;Bennett et al 2017;St John et al 2018) and leverage the potential of tools such as audience segmentation. There is also a need to place relevant psychosocial attributes more squarely at the heart of monitoring programs to improve understanding of factors that facilitate behavior-change outcomes.…”

Understanding diverse approaches to predator management among gamekeepers in England

“…Research on human behaviour towards predators has explored both the explanatory power of the TPB constructs and the background factors that might influence them (Marchini & Macdonald, 2012; St John et al., 2018). For instance, Marchini and Macdonald (2012) demonstrate how perceived threats to livestock and human safety (background factors) influence ranchers' attitudes towards jaguar killing (TPB construct) and how this, in turn, explains their intention to kill jaguars.…”

Fatwas on Boosting Environmental Conservation in Indonesia

“…Therefore, in principle, following the rules handed down by God is an accepted practice in national life. 1 Pulungan (2019), says, Islam spreads in Indonesia escalated by the kingdom of Islam or at least trade relations between indigenous Muslim merchants. Islam arrived six means: (1) traders, (2) politic, (3) marriage, (4) education, (5) arts, (6) sufism.…”

“…Fatwas are also expected to function as pre-emptive efforts in overcoming conflicts between animals and humans (St. John et al 2018). Non-governmental organizations and government activities are increasingly helped by the existence of this fatwa, especially in providing an understanding of the Islamic perspective on protected animals, also felt by Ujung Kulon National Park, which carries out activities by involving the preachers, by visiting village mosques especially during Ramadan.…”