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Ethics and wolf management: Attitudes toward and tolerance of wolves in Washington State
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Callahan, Julie |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | ETHICS AND WOLF MANAGEMENT: ATTITUDES TOWARD AND TOLERANCE OF WOLVES IN WASHINGTON STATE by Julie Callahan Approximately seventy-five years after extirpation from Washington State, gray wolves (Canis lupus) returned. As of December 2012, eight packs had ar rived from adjacent states and provinces. Delisted from the F ederal Endangered Species List in the eastern one-third of Washington, state wildlife man agers now have the authority to manage wolves without federal supervision. As a re sult, one seven-wolf pack has been destroyed. The current study was developed to prov ide information for managers and policymakers to modify wolf management policies to fi the new regulatory context. Effects of a range of cultural and demographic fact ors on attitudes toward wolves and tolerance of wolf-human interactions were assessed u ing surveys mailed to 1,500 residents in Washington State. Factors included ri sk perception, experience with and knowledge of wolves, socio-demographic factors, and cultural attributes. Unexpectedly, 48.3% of respondents approved of wolves; only 18.1% disapproved of them in the area. Most respondents (57.2%) also indicated that danger to humans was not a reason to disapprove. Disapproval of wolves by suburban resp ondents (53.7%) was surprisingly greater than by citizens living in rural regions (3 9.0%). Wildlife managers must avoid preconceived stereotypes and guide differing groups to unite to minimize wolf-human conflicts, building bridges among stakeholders beli eved to hold irreconcilable differences, in order to support sustainable recove ry of wolves. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank Amaroq Weiss. After co ntacting her to discuss ideas for a wolf-related topic for my thesis, she suggest ed I talk with wolf wildlife biologists at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Sh e has been an ongoing inspiration through my long and winding journey. I would also ike to thank Scott Fisher from the Washington Department of Natural Resources. I cont acted him early on in my process, after reading an article in the Seattle Times about him viewing and photographing a wolf in eastern Washington. He has been a continual sou rce of encouragement, sending beautiful and motivational “pics” of wolves during my thesis process. I am grateful to William Lynn for suggesting that I consider the topic of social carrying capacity as I searched for a topic for my study of wolves in Washington. He recommended I speak with Ben Peyton who I also want to thank for providing invaluable information about the wolf social carrying capacity project that he worked on in Michigan. I want to thank Harriet Allen and Gary W iles of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. They were both supportive du ring my attendance at the Wolf Working Group meetings. They both provided helpful comments on my initial questionnaire. Gary has continued to help support my project by sending me related articles and papers as well as answering my many qu estions regarding the Washington Wolf Management Plan. Thank you to my thesis committee for guiding me thr ough the thesis journey and for giving up their valuable time to read and rerea d my work. Dr. Russell agreed to take |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7772&context=etd_theses |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
