Understanding Attitudes Toward the Control of Nonnative Wild and Feral Mammals: Similarities and Differences in the Opinions of the General Public, Animal Protectionists, and Conservationists in New Zealand (Aotearoa)

Abstract

Lethal control is used extensively in New Zealand to control nonnative nonhuman mammals. Respondents were surveyed about 8 mammal groups considered pests and their attitudes toward their control and pest status. They also identified the most appropriate method of control for the 8 different mammals. Information was gathered from 3 groups of respondents: nonhuman animal protectionists, conservationists, and the general public. Conservationists routinely rated all animal groups as more severe pests than the general public or animal protectionists, who provided the lowest scores. Rats, stoats, brushtail possums, and rabbits were identified as the 4 most serious pests by all 3 groups. Conservationists were 5.7 and 2.6 times more likely to prefer a lethal method of control than protectionists and the general public, respectively. For all 3 groups an increase in pest score for a given animal saw a decline in importance placed upon the animal's welfare. This relationship was strong for the general public but weak for conservationists and animal protectionists. Understanding aspects of potentially opposing viewpoints may be invaluable in supporting the development of new welfare-focused control methods.

A comparison of attitudes towards introduced wildlife in New Zealand in 1994 and 2012

“…The shift from 1994 to 2012 for control over extermination of rabbits might reflect a high-profile, illegal biological control introduction (rabbit haemorrhagic disease) between surveys in 1997 which significantly reduced rabbit densities (Cooke & Fenner 2002). As others have found, introduced predators and small herbivores now have the highest pest status in New Zealand (Farnworth et al 2014).…”

Past, present and two potential futures for managing New Zealand’s mammalian pests

“…Overlapping subsets of New Zealanders value different aspects of native biodiversity, and consequently allocate differing degrees of 'pestiness' to introduced (and sometimes native) species that they perceive to be affecting these values (Farnworth et al 2014). However, New Zealanders view conservation of native biodiversity as a 'public good' and have a high willingness to pay to minimise or mitigate the threats from pests to the surviving native ecosystems and species.…”

Research challenges and conservation implications for urban cat management in New Zealand

“…Conversely, evidence that cats may have some beneficial effects (e.g. suppressing smaller predatory mammals) has led to disparate views among people with different attitudes towards animals (van Heezik 2010;Loyd and Hernandez 2012;Farnworth et al 2014). Only in the past 13 years have investigations of cats within New Zealand's urban environment, and their potential effects, been published (Table 1).…”

“…Despite much research in New Zealand on the impacts of unowned cats in rural locations, the impact of owned cats on wildlife in urban locations is a matter of vigorous public debate, and one that may be hard to resolve, given that conservationists and those involved with (companion) animal-welfare organisations can have diametrically opposed viewpoints (Farnworth et al 2014). Studies on other impacts of cats, such as disease transmission and the emotional value of pet cats in New Zealand to their owners, are also limited (but see Farnworth et al 2011;Roe et al 2013).…”

“…induction of stress or changes in breeding behaviour) and disease transmission (Medina et al 2014). In New Zealand, cats pose a particularly complex problem because (1) native species have evolved in the absence of predatory mammals and face current challenges of vastly altered ecosystems (Towns et al 2001), (2) conservation efforts are increasingly focusing on cities (Innes et al 2012), (3) cats are the most common companion animal in New Zealand (National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee 2007), and are predators of both native and exotic species (Fitzgerald and Karl 1979;King 2005;Tocher 2006), and (4) among New Zealanders, vastly different attitudes towards animals can be found (Farnworth et al 2014). Evidence of predator-prey dynamics of cats in urban locations is in its infancy (but see studies outlined in Table 1), despite cats being known to having been major predators of native species for decades.…”