CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Tarr, Katalin |
|---|---|
| Title | Local attitudes towards wolves and wolf wanagement in and around the Bukk National Park, Hungary |
| Summary | Parallel to trends in Europe and North America, the population of large carnivores is slowly increasing in Hungary, including within the Bükk National Park (BNP). After almost a century of absence, the wolf (Canis lupus) re-entered the BNP in 2010, and human-wolf conflicts of livestock depredation and competition for wild game immediately followed. In general, wolves generate both strong positive and negative feelings in residents, and wolf tolerance is especially low in regions where the wolf has been previously extirpated. Furthermore, the wolf is often understood as a symbol for other socio-economic or cultural issues, such as rural depopulation, lack of trust in authorities, and restrictions on the use of natural resources. Local acceptance is a key factor in successful and efficient large carnivore conservation, yet no research has been conducted so far on the attitudes of local residents towards wolves and wolf management in and around BNP. The current study’s aim is to assess the strength and direction of these local attitudes and the set of demographic, socio-economic, and cultural variables which shape them. A face-to-face questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted among local residents of 3 villages in and around BNP - Szilvásvárad, Nagyvisnyó and Répáshuta – and several key stakeholders, and a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed to assess local attitudes. The main results are similar to global trends, namely attitudes are neutral-negative. Irrational negative emotions and fear do not influence attitudes, while most respondents attributed intrinsic or aesthetic value to wolves. Negative attitudes are centered around the concept of damage caused by wolves, and the root cause of negative attitudes towards wolves and wolf management lie in deeper socio-economic tensions. |
| Supervisor | Brandon Patrick Anthony |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/tarr_katalin.pdf |
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