The change in the attitudes of Czech hunters towards Eurasian lynx: Is poaching restricting lynx population growth?

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62156489%3A43210%2F19%3A43914273" target="_blank" >RIV/62156489:43210/19:43914273 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/68081766:_____/19:00496936 RIV/60460709:41320/19:80184

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2018.11.002" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2018.11.002</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2018.11.002" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.jnc.2018.11.002</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The change in the attitudes of Czech hunters towards Eurasian lynx: Is poaching restricting lynx population growth?

Original language description

Even though the Eurasian lynx is a less controversial species than the wolf or brown bear, poaching remains a major cause of lynx mortality in Europe, potentially threatening population expansion in key areas. Our study was designed to explore the attitude of hunters and other stakeholders (students of secondary forestry schools and University forestry faculties) towards lynx and their experience with illegal killing of lynx in the Czech Republic. Self-administered questionnaires were addressed to local hunters and to students in 2001 and again in 2015.The survey in 2001 was conducted in two separate hunting regions of Bohemia, one where lynx have been artificially reintroduced and another in which lynx have become established through natural colonisation. In 2015 the survey was extended to two further areas where lynx have re-established themselves through natural colonisation, in the east of the Czech Republic. Altogether 415 and 922 questionnaires were completed in 2001 and 2015, respectively. The attitude of hunters towards lynx was not affected by hunting region, lynx population density or nature of the population (human re-introductions vs natural recolonisation), but attitudes became more negative in 2015 than they had been in 2001. The majority of hunters still believed that lynx had negative effects on other wildlife and 27 % stated that they do not wish to co-exist with lynx. Half of secondary school students and a third of tertiary students still believe that lynx threaten roe deer stocks, even though roe and red deer are present at high density and cause extensive damage in commercial forestry. Hunters as well as forestry students had first-hand knowledge about illegal hunting of lynx. The proportion of hunters admitting to having poached lynx themselves was 10 % with the proportion of repeated illegal kills made by the same person increasing between 2001 and 2015. Population modelling suggested that at least 25 % of the population might be poached annually, sufficient to restrict population growth and further expansion of lynx distribution.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10619 - Biodiversity conservation

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal for Nature Conservation

ISSN

1617-1381

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

47

Issue of the periodical within the volume

February

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

10

Pages from-to

28-37

UT code for WoS article

000453210100003

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85056853086