IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Best, I.; Pei, K.J.-C. | |
| Factors influencing local attitudes toward the conservation of leopard cat (_Prionailurus bengalensis_) in Taiwan | |
| 2016 Conference Proceeding | |
In order to effectively execute conservation management for species involved in human-carnivore conflicts, understanding of the human dimensions is critical. There is also a need to recognize who amongst the underlying human populations are supportive of wildlife conservation. In this exploratory study, we investigate how attitudinal variables and knowledge of leopard cat (_Prionailurus bengalensis_) and their conservation are influenced by socio-demographic variables and types of experiences in Taiwan. We interviewed 150 local residents from June to August 2014 in communities of Miaoli County in northern Taiwan, the region leopard cats inhabit. Cross-tabulations and chi-square tests were performed to analyse the data from our sample. We found that more than half of the participants are supportive of leopard cat conservation. There are significant associations between the attitudinal variable for leopard cat protection and the socio-demographic variables age, education and occupation. The majority of positive attitudes are from participants in younger, more-educated socio-demographic groups. Whereas, the highest proportion of negative attitudes and opposition to leopard cat conservation comes from the occupation group farmers, who also have the highest incidence of negative experiences, mainly due to poultry predation. We provide recommendations to mitigate the human-cat conflicts, as well as methods to increase conservation efforts of this species and wildlife in general in Taiwan. |
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