Understanding primate‐human interaction: Socioeconomic correlates of local awareness and attitude toward the endangered golden langur <i>Trachypithecus geei</i> (Khajuria, 1956) in Bhutan

Thinley, Phuntsho; Rajaratnam, Rajanathan; Tighe, Matthew; Vernes, Karl; Norbu, Tshewang; Dorji, Rinchen; Tenzin, Sangay

doi:10.1002/ajp.22995

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This is supported by previous work that suggested attitudes may be strongly related to intangible costs such as perceived threats [67,70,71]. People's prior experience of problems was also a factor (see other examples regarding golden langurs (Trachypithecus geei) in Bhutan [80] and wildlife in Tanzania [81]). Older people had more negative attitudes towards some species; this may be a generational response and/or attitudes may tend to become more negative as people age, and older people will have had longer to accumulate negative associations with species.…”

Section: Modelling-attitudessupporting

confidence: 70%

Not in My Backyard: Public Perceptions of Wildlife and ‘Pest Control’ in and around UK Homes, and Local Authority ‘Pest Control’

Baker

Maw²,

Johnson

et al. 2020

Animals

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Human–wildlife conflict occurs globally. Attempts to control ‘pest’ wildlife involve killing and harming the welfare of animals on a vast scale. We examined public perceptions of 10 wildlife species/groups and wildlife management, in and around UK homes, and public authority ‘pest control’ provision, in an effort to identify ethical, welfare-friendly ways to reduce conflict. Most people reported never having problems with each of the 10 species, and reported problems for some species were largely tolerated. Wasps, mice, and rats were the most frequently problematic species, the least tolerated, and those for which local authorities most often offered pest control services. Do-It-Yourself pest control was preferred over professional control, except for with wasps. People wanted control to be quick, lasting, and safe for people and non-target animals. Where people accepted lethal control, they were nevertheless concerned for animal welfare. Drivers of pest status were complex, while drivers of demand for control were fewer and species-specific. Local authority pest control provision increased over the four years studied, but only half of councils offered advice on preventing/deterring wildlife; this advice was patchy and variable in quality. Greater focus is required on preventing/deterring rather than controlling wildlife problems. Councils should provide standardised, comprehensive advice on prevention/deterrence and prevention/deterrence services.

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Section: Modelling-attitudessupporting

confidence: 70%

Not in My Backyard: Public Perceptions of Wildlife and ‘Pest Control’ in and around UK Homes, and Local Authority ‘Pest Control’

Baker

Maw²,

Johnson

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…The Eastern Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan (Figure 1) is synonymous with strong conservation policy and biodiversity richness. Within a small geographic size of 38,394 km 2 , Bhutan maintains a contiguous forest cover of approximately 71% (Thinley, Rajaratnam, Tighe, et al, 2019), which supports a rich biodiversity of 11,248 species (NBC, 2017). People, additionally, revere nature from the influence of Buddhist philosophy (Thinley et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within a small geographic size of 38,394 km 2 , Bhutan maintains a contiguous forest cover of approximately 71% (Thinley, Rajaratnam, Tighe, et al, 2019), which supports a rich biodiversity of 11,248 species (NBC, 2017). People, additionally, revere nature from the influence of Buddhist philosophy (Thinley et al, 2019). Because Bhutan's Constitution mandates a permanent forest cover of at least 60% of total land area, approximately 51% of the country is protected : 41% as protected areas and 10% as biological corridors for wide-ranging species, such as tigers, common leopards (Panthera pardus), elephants (Elephas maximus), and dholes (Cuon alpinus; Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the adequacy of a protected area network in conserving a wide‐ranging apex predator: The case for tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation in Bhutan

Thinley

Rajaratnam

Morreale

et al. 2020

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Protected area networks (PAN) are essential for conserving wide‐ranging apex predators but their adequacy in species protection has rarely been assessed. Here, we assess the adequacy of Bhutan's PAN in conserving and providing connectivity to the endangered tiger (Panthera tigris). We determine the current extent of tiger habitat, predict new suitable habitat, identify potential corridors, and empirically estimate the range of tiger numbers that Bhutan can spatially support. We use two spatial models with different approaches to ascertain current tiger distribution and predict new suitable tiger areas: (a) an expert model based on tiger ecology and (b) an observation model from observed tiger distribution. The expert model identified more suitable tiger areas (32,887 km2) over the observation model (29,962 km2), with the PAN encompassing 46% and 45% of predicted suitable areas, respectively. Vast suitable tiger habitat remains unprotected. Based on our estimates of total suitable habitats, Bhutan can spatially support 138–151 tigers compared to the current estimate of 103, thereby precluding a doubling in tiger numbers. To ensure adequate protection of tigers in Bhutan, we recommend readjusting and/or expanding existing PAN boundaries, including the designation of new corridors, protecting habitats, and conserving prey populations.

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“…We predicted negative influences from livestock predation and feminine gender on driving the attitude and support for dhole conservation because livestock loss fuels negative attitude toward canid conservation (Wang et al, 2006b;Dressel et al, 2015) and more men exhibited positive attitudes toward large carnivores as in the case of Nepal (Kusi et al, 2020). Protected area residency can positively influence the attitude of people toward wildlife from increased conservation awareness (Thinley et al, 2019). We predicted a positive impact from PA residency similar to more PA residents liking the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in Bhutan because of their exposure to more conservation awareness programs (Thinley et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, assessing the influence of socioeconomic factors on the occurrence and intensification of human-canid conflict substantially contributes to species conservation by providing conflict mitigating decision-making information (Torres et al, 2018). Therefore, understanding this conflict must focus on documenting canid interactions with humans, and identifying the underlying drivers behind reciprocal human attitude (Li et al, 2015;Thinley et al, 2019;Sangay et al, 2020). Identifying these drivers further enables appropriate strategies to minimize conflict (Manfredo, 2008;Mir et al, 2015) and forge coexistence (Bencin et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Human–Canid Conflict and Coexistence: Socioeconomic Correlates Underlying Local Attitude and Support Toward the Endangered Dhole (Cuon alpinus) in Bhutan

Thinley¹,

Rajaratnam²,

Norbu³

et al. 2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Understanding human–canid conflict and coexistence must focus on documenting human–canid interactions and identifying the underlying drivers of reciprocal human attitude which enables appropriate strategies to minimize conflict and forge coexistence. The dhole (Cuon alpinus), Asia's most widely distributed wild canid, is highly threatened by human persecution and anthropogenic activities. Despite its “endangered” status, its ecological role as an apex predator, negative interactions with humans, and dhole-specific attitude studies are limited, thus hindering the development of a comprehensive dhole-conservation strategy. Here, we investigate the influence of socioeconomic factors of age, gender, income, residency inside/outside a protected area (PA), and other variables (cultural beliefs, livestock loss, and quantity of livestock loss) on the attitudes of local people and support for dhole conservation in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. We conducted a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 1,444 households located within the PA and non-PA from four representative regions in the country. Using R programming, we ran Pearson's chi-square test of independence to test the overall difference in the attitude and support for dhole conservation, followed by recursive partitioning through a conditional inference regression tree to identify its significant covariates with the highest explanatory power. Majority (79.1%) of respondents (χ2 = 488.6; df = 1; p < 0.001) disliked the dhole over those who liked it. More than half (57.7%) (χ2 = 412.7; df = 2; p < 0.001) opposed dhole conservation over those who either supported or remained neutral. Experience of livestock loss to dholes was the primary ( p < 0.001) factor influencing the negative attitude and opposition to dhole conservation, despite an acknowledgment of the ecological role of the dhole in controlling agricultural crop predators. Our study, which is the first-ever survey in Bhutan, solely focused on investigating human attitudes and perceptions toward the dhole, indicating that livestock loss to dholes transcends all positive attitudes to the species and drives a predominant dislike and opposition to its conservation. To improve the attitude and support toward the dhole and to foster dhole–human coexistence, livestock predation by dholes needs alleviation by improving the existing animal husbandry, in conjunction with promoting conservation awareness on this species.

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Understanding primate‐human interaction: Socioeconomic correlates of local awareness and attitude toward the endangered golden langur Trachypithecus geei (Khajuria, 1956) in Bhutan

Cited by 13 publications

References 46 publications

Not in My Backyard: Public Perceptions of Wildlife and ‘Pest Control’ in and around UK Homes, and Local Authority ‘Pest Control’

Not in My Backyard: Public Perceptions of Wildlife and ‘Pest Control’ in and around UK Homes, and Local Authority ‘Pest Control’

Assessing the adequacy of a protected area network in conserving a wide‐ranging apex predator: The case for tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation in Bhutan

Understanding Human–Canid Conflict and Coexistence: Socioeconomic Correlates Underlying Local Attitude and Support Toward the Endangered Dhole (Cuon alpinus) in Bhutan

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