Large carnivore hunting and the social license to hunt

Abstract

The social license to operate framework considers how society grants or withholds informal permission for resource extractors to exploit publicly owned resources. We developed a modified model, which we refer to as the social license to hunt (SLH). In it we similarly consider hunters as operators, given that wildlife are legally considered public resources in North America and Europe. We applied the SLH model to examine the controversial hunting of large carnivores, which are frequently killed for trophies. Killing for trophies is widespread, but undertaken by a minority of hunters, and can pose threats to the SLH for trophy-seeking carnivore hunters and potentially beyond. Societal opposition to large carnivore hunting relates not only to conservation concerns but also to misalignment between killing for trophies and dominant public values and attitudes concerning the treatment of animals. We summarized cases related to the killing of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), wolves (Canis lupus), and other large carnivores in Canada, the United States, and Europe to illustrate how opposition to large carnivore hunting, now expressed primarily on social media, can exert rapid and significant pressure on policy makers and politicians. Evidence of the potential for transformative change to wildlife management and conservation includes proposed and realized changes to legislation, business practice, and wildlife policy, including the banning of some large carnivore hunts. Given that policy is ultimately shaped by societal values and attitudes, research gaps include developing increased insight into public support of various hunting policies beyond that derived from monitoring of social media and public polling. Informed by increased evidence, the SLH model can provide a conceptual foundation for predicting the likelihood of transient versus enduring changes to wildlife conservation policy and practice for a wide variety of taxa and contexts.

Transparency About Values and Assertions of Fact in Natural Resource Management

“…Likewise, we suggest that the dependence of MSY on biological estimates (e.g., of carrying capacity, growth rates, and density dependence) be made explicit in scientific communications, so that changes in biological parameters or parameters of human use result in changes in MSY estimates, rather than fixing population goals and quotas for longer periods. Finally, we encourage policy makers to engage with social scientists and legal scholars, who can appropriately characterize the diversity of values among the public and policy makers (Manfredo et al, 2019;Darimont et al, 2021), so that influence of values can be explicitly acknowledged (Doremus, 2004).…”

Social License and Animal Welfare: Developments from the Past Decade in Australia

“…The media has played a central role in all the case studies discussed above, particularly in cases of opposition and activists attacking industries. Forms of opposition have include television exposés (live export [2] and greyhound racing [4]), documentary movies (kangaroo harvesting) [50], and social media attacks [15]. The recent history of animal welfare outrage in Australia has typically shown that media events, for example filming of poor outcomes in abattoirs or on live export ships, have driven expressions of public concern [1].…”

“…In some cases, such media advocacy has been successful in eroding public support and forcing legislators to take rapid action, such as temporary bans on the practices at the center of ongoing contention. Similarly, opposition expressed on social media can also exert rapid and effective pressure on policy makers and politicians [15].…”

“…Looking for current solutions to SLO issues is an ongoing challenge. The SLO framework is relatively new, and as with all newly developed theory, evidence linking societal opposition and policy change is currently limited [15]. Societal expectations are dynamic, especially in the field of animal welfare, so lasting one-stop solutions to SLO issues are unlikely to exist.…”

“…While the concept of SLO defies absolute definition [6], it has become an important focus for many natural resource management fields, including mining [7], energy production [8], fishing [9], and forestry [10]. There has traditionally been less awareness of its role in animal welfare, but there has been recent appreciation of its relevance to animal-based agriculture [11], wildlife use [12], animal racing [13], zoos [14], and hunting [15].…”