Attitudes of Zoo Visitors and Professionals Towards the Conservationco of the Maned Wolf in Southeast Brazil
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Consorte-McCrea and Rubin Attitudes towards conservervation of maned wolf CanidCa News Copyright © 2009 by the IUCN/SSC Canianid Specialist Group. ISSN 1478-2677 The following is the established formatt fofor referencing this article: Consorte-McCrea, A.G. and Rubin, R. 2009. Attitudes of zoo visitors and professionals towards the conservationco of the maned wolf in southeast Brazil. Canid News 12.1 [online] URL: http://www.canids.org/canidnewsws/12/Attitudes_towards_conservation_of_maned_wolf.pdf. Research Report Attitudes of zoo visitortors and professionals towards the conservationco of the maned wolf in soututheast Brazil Adriana G. Consorte-McCreCrea*1 and Rona Rubin2 1. Dept of Geographical and LifLife Sciences, Wildlife and People Group, Canterbterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent, CTCT1 1QU, UK. Email: [email protected] 2. Dept of Allied Health Professessions, Canterbury Christ Church University, Cananterbury, Kent, CT1 1QU, UK. Email: [email protected] * Correspondence author Keywords: attitudes towards carcarnivores; canid conservation; carnivore-people conflictcon ; maned wolf; Chrysocyon brachyurus Abstract (b) conservation/educationion professionals' atti- tudes towards local peopople, maned wolves, and conservation. Somee of the results rein- Issues related to people versus wwildlife conflict force previous findings of a high level of mis- are a worldwide concern for the conservation information concerning the maned wolf's of endangered carnivore popululations. This ecology, and a lack of strotrong feelings against exploratory study is part of an ongoing re- the wolf and conservationon among the general search project about the conserservation of an public and students. Resuesults suggest a wide- endemic threatened species of carnivore in spread belief that manedd wolvesw attack chick- southeast Brazil, where the higheghest concentra- en pens and livestock; howeverho such beliefs tion of people meet some of ththe largest re- are mostly accompaniedd byb positive feelings maining areas of Brazil’s biodiveiversity and en- about the maned wolf. Other results shed demism. As the maned wolf ChChrysocyon bra- light on target groups' salientsal beliefs in rela- chyurus is forced out of its naturtural habitat by tion to the maned wolf andan conservation, and farming, it explores a variety of settings and to other stakeholders. Thihis exploratory study food sources, increasing the risrisk of conflict is necessary in the deveevelopment of future with humans. Questionnaireses were distri- questionnaires and intervirviews, and crucial in buted to target groups at Sãoo PPaulo Zoo, to the subsequent targetingg of those beliefs in examine: (a) local people's belieliefs about and future education programmmes aimed at indi- attitudes towards the maned wwolf, conserva- vidual target groups. tion, and conservation/educationion agents; 1 Consorte-McCrea and Rubin Attitudes towards conservation of maned wolf Introduction Cerrado, a biodiversity hotspot, has been re- duced to 20% of its original area; Miranda et al. 2003) by conversion into agricultural land, The maned wolf (Figure 1) is an endemic and fragmentation, causing the isolation of South American canid, large in size (up to sub-populations; road kills, competition and 90cm tall at the shoulder, averaging 23.3kg), attacks by domestic and feral dogs; direct per- and atypical in habits (Dietz 1984; Rodden et secution by people due to presumed attacks al. 2004). Maned wolves are solitary and mo- on domestic stock; and demand on body parts nogamous, and have small litter sizes (two to for traditional medicine and as “lucky” three on average). They are easily identifiable charms (Encke 1970; Dietz 1984; Rodrigues by their long dark legs, orangey brown coat 2002). and dark mane (Consorte-McCrea 1994). Their original distribution is open areas of Pa- As the wolf is forced out of its natural habitat raguay, north Argentina, also Bolivia, Peru by ever-expanding farms (cattle, sugar cane) and possibly Uruguay, central and southern and re-forestation (pine, eucalyptus), it ex- Brazil, inhabiting grasslands and bush (Cerra- plores a variety of settings and food sources, do), wetlands and swamps (Pantanal) (Rod- increasing the risk of conflict with humans den et al. 2004; Paula et al. 2008). (that is arguably becoming the main threat to its survival) (Rodrigues 2002; Paula et al. 2008). As a result, human social elements play a pivotal role in the present status of the maned wolf. During recent years the issue of people and carnivore conflict has been discussed at inter- national and regional meetings (e.g., Sympo- sium on Carnivore Conservation, ZSL and ASAB, 2001; Symposium People and Wildlife: Conflict or Co-existence?, ZSL and Wildlife Conservation Society, 2002; Conservation In- ternational Meeting, DICE, UKC, 2002; De- fenders of Wildlife Carnivores Conference, 2002, Monterey-CA,), and in publications (e.g., Gittleman et al. 2001; Kruuk 2002; Fascione et al. 2004; Woodroffe et al. 2005). However, Figure 1. The maned wolf, photo from Question- those discussions seem to have overlooked the naire 1 (The Ark Gallery, Durrell Wildlife Conser- maned wolf and the issues that characterise vation Trust). the basis for its conflict with people. The rela- tionship between people and maned wolves The maned wolf displays a largely frugivor- seem to be immersed in many misconceptions ous, generalist-opportunist diet which varies about the wolf’s diet, ecology and behaviour, seasonally, composed of 60% animal origin and surrounded by mystical beliefs. The lack and 40% fruits (Ferraz 2000), and seems to of consistent data on people’s attitudes about play an important role in the dispersion of dif- the maned wolf contributes to its absence from ferent species of fruits in the Cerrado, and es- the discussion. pecially of the “wolf’s fruit” Solanum lycocar- pum, which shows improved germination In the south east of Brazil the highest concen- rates after passing through the maned wolf’s tration of people meet some of the largest re- digestive system (Lombardi and Motta-Junior maining areas of Brazil’s biodiversity hotspots 1993). (Cerrado, Atlantic Rainforest). Due to the role that people play in the maned wolf’s status, Each monogamous pair occupies a territory of efforts to protect it benefit from the inclusion approximately 25-100 km2 (Dietz 1984; Rodri- of local communities and a higher understand- gues 2002) encompassing a variety of vegeta- ing of their attitudes towards them. Similar tion types. The main reasons for the decline of studies developed in other parts of the world the species seem to be habitat reduction (the suggest that conservation measures have little 2 Consorte-McCrea and Rubin Attitudes towards conservation of maned wolf chance of succeeding unless the local people • teachers of visiting primary and second- approve of them and contribute to their suc- ary schools; cess (Pyrovetsi and Daoutopoulos 1991; Sille- ro-Zubiri and Laurenson 2001; Ericsson and • zoo visitors. Heberle 2003). Most questions were closed (Appendix 1), and This preliminary study is part of a research language was simple (no technical or scientific project on the conservation of the maned wolf terms). Questionnaires were two pages long in a region of the southeast of Brazil, which and designed to take no longer than six mi- aims to investigate how people’s attitudes to nutes to complete. the maned wolf may influence its status and conservation in such area, and to suggest how Students’ age groups were chosen according conservation strategies may be improved by to their ‘readiness’, in terms of developmental incorporating such knowledge into their ef- stage (following Jean Piaget Cognitive Theory; forts to conserve both wolf and habitat. Lin 2002). Socio-economic questions were asked to estab- Methods lish a profile of respondents, since it has been suggested that people within some profiles Questionnaires were designed to identify se- may favour conservation more than others lected attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of tar- (Kellert et al. 1996). get groups in relation to the maned wolf, wild- Different sets of questions were devised to life, conservation and to other target groups; target (1) general public and students’ beliefs so we could compare these factors in urban and attitudes towards the maned wolf, na- and rural areas of São Paulo state; and consid- ture/wildlife, and (2) conservation/education er the findings in the context of the maned professionals’ beliefs and attitudes towards wolf conservation and planning of conserva- the maned wolf and about public/students, tion strategies. São Paulo is the most popu- and conservation/education professionals. lated state in Brazil, of high political and eco- Beliefs were targeted as they are guides for nomical importance in the national context, actions, convey people’s knowledge about ob- which also houses some of the most significant jects, and may express desires. Attitudes were remnants of maned wolf habitat within con- targeted as they convey positive and negative servation areas. feelings about objects and they might be ex- pressed into behaviour on appropriate occa- This exploratory study had the supplementary sions (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980). aim to test the questionnaires and the efficien- cy of questions in relation to the aims and ob- Questions raised by similar studies have con- jectives of the research project. All question- tributed to the design of the present question- naires were administered