Understanding carnivore killing behaviour: Exploring the motivations for tiger killing in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper provides the first in-depth exploration of tiger killing behaviour in communities bordering the Sundarbans mangrove forest, Bangladesh. Our findings demonstrate the complexity of carnivore killing behaviour in situations of human-wildlife conflict. We find that killings are not purely retaliatory in nature (i.e. driven by a desire for retribution following livestock depredation or attacks on humans by tigers), and that previous negative experience of tigers is not the sole determinant of villagers' acceptance of killing behaviour. Inter-related socio-psychological factors (risk perceptions, beliefs about tigers and the people that kill tigers, general attitude towards tigers), perceived failings on the part of local authorities whom villagers believe should resolve village tiger incidents, perceived personal rewards (financial rewards, enhanced social status, medicinal or protective value of tiger body parts), and contextual factors (the severity and location of tiger incidents) motivate people to kill tigers when they enter villages and foster the widespread acceptance of this behaviour. The complexity of these factors highlights the need for conservation practitioners to explore and understand people's motivations for killing endangered carnivore species, in order to address better the community-led killing of these animals. For the Sundarbans area, knowledge of these motivational factors can be used to develop conservation actions suitable for developing both communities' capacity and, crucially, desire to co-exist with tigers and to respond with non-lethal action to village tiger incidents.

Social factors mediating human–carnivore coexistence: Understanding thematic strands influencing coexistence in Central Romania

“…This suggests either a lower impact of affective factors or may indicate that the effect of these factors was explored less deeply during the interviews. This finding is important because affective factors may be related to carnivore killing (Inskip et al 2014), while in contrast, low fear levels may facilitate tolerance (Roskaft et al 2003). Given the importance of affective factors elsewhere, we believe it may be worthwhile to further investigate these in our study region in the future.…”

“…We primarily used an inductive approach to generate insights on human-bear coexistence (see also Inskip et al 2014), rather than a deductive approach to test specific theories or hypotheses (Pratt 2009). We conducted 71 semi-structured, qualitative interviews to explore the social factors mediating human-carnivore coexistence.…”

“…Despite an increasing recognition of the need to integrate social science into understanding the extent of human-carnivore conflicts (Carter et al 2012;Inskip et al 2014), the majority of studies to date have described conflicts or attitudes towards carnivores, whereas fewer studies have focused on the underlying drivers and impacts of conflict (Barua et al 2013;Can et al 2014;Madden and McQuinn 2014). In Europe, such knowledge is particularly important because Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0760-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.…”

Understanding the human dimensions of coexistence between carnivores and people: A case study in Namibia

“…people think and act the way they do towards carnivores (Inskip, Fahad, Tully, Roberts, & MacMillan, 2014).…”

“…Inskip, Fahad, Tully, Roberts, & Macmillan, 2014;Ogra, 2008;Skogen, Mauz, & Krange, 2008). This current research therefore took a mixed-methods approach to understand human-carnivore coexistence in Namibia.…”