Dataset Information

Human-Wildlife Conflict: The Human Dimension of European Bison Conservation in the Bieszczady Mountains (Poland).

ABSTRACT: An important limitation for the population growth of European bison in the Bieszczady Mountains may be the level of social acceptance. The study aimed to compare attitudes to European bison of local village inhabitants in Bieszczady and city dwellers in Rzeszów. We also investigated whether damage caused by European bison or other wild species changes peoples' perceptions of this animal. Our study showed that not only does the growing European bison population cause an increase in negative attitudes among local village communities, but this species also causes more conflict than any other herbivore in the Bieszczady Mountains. Village residents believed that the main threats that arise from European bison were the damage they cause and forest use limitations. The current compensation system for the damage caused by this species does not solve the problem because over 60% of damage is not effectively reported to the state administration. The city dwellers of Rzeszów displayed a different attitude towards the European bison. We concluded that while educational workshops for local villagers may alleviate conflict in the short-term, ultimately it is only by restricting the growth of the European bison population that a long-term effect will be achieved.

SUBMITTER: Klich D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7919045 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Human-Wildlife Conflict: The Human Dimension of European Bison Conservation in the Bieszczady Mountains (Poland).

Klich Daniel D Łopucki Rafał R Perlińska-Teresiak Magdalena M Lenkiewicz-Bardzińska Agata A Olech Wanda W

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20210215 2

An important limitation for the population growth of European bison in the Bieszczady Mountains may be the level of social acceptance. The study aimed to compare attitudes to European bison of local village inhabitants in Bieszczady and city dwellers in Rzeszów. We also investigated whether damage caused by European bison or other wild species changes peoples' perceptions of this animal. Our study showed that not only does the growing European bison population cause an increase in negative attit ...[more]

PMID: 33671922

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Project description:BackgroundHuman-wildlife conflict (HWC) is forecasted to increase globally in the vicinity of protected areas and covers various dimensions. It occurs in several different contexts and involves a range of animal taxonomic groups where the needs and requirements intersect with humans' needs and development. More often, human-monkey conflict occurs in developing countries and is amongst the main threats to biodiversity conservation in these regions. Grivet monkeys are slender agile monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus. This study was conducted to investigate the status of human grivet monkey conflict and the attitude of local communities towards grivet monkey conservation in and around Wof-Washa Natural State Forest (WWNSF), Ethiopia from September 2017 to May 2018. A questionnaire survey (143 respondents) was used to study the human-grivet monkey conflict and its conservation status.ResultsThe majority of respondents (male = 67.1%; female = 74.1%) were not supporting grivet monkey conservation due to the troublesome crop-damaging effect of the animal. Respondents having settlements/farmland nearer to the forest have significantly negative perceptions towards grivet monkey conservation than those far from it. The majority of respondents opined that eradication/relocation of grivet monkeys and financial compensation are the options to mitigate human-grivet monkey conflict. Based on the questionnaire result, 42.5 ± SD 8.68 of respondents in all villages elucidated that the main cause of crop damage by grivet monkeys was habitat degradation.ConclusionIn the study area, Human-Grivet Monkey Conflict (HGMC) is exacerbated by the encroachment of local communities into the forest area, exploitation of resources that would be used by grivet monkeys, and enhanced crop damage by grivet monkeys. As a result grivet monkeys have been persecuted as a consequence of crop damage. This was due to the negative attitude developed from human perspective. Thus, awareness creation education programs and feasible crop damage prevention techniques need to be implemented.

Project description:The European bison is the largest terrestrial mammal in Europe. After extinction in the wild at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was re-introduced to Białowieża Forest and other woodlands in Eastern Europe. In this paper, we analysed the movements of European bison beyond the continuous woodlands of the Białowieża Forest (NE Poland) between 1964 and 2010. In total, 1,117 direct observations of bison were collected. The number of males moving out of the forest fluctuated during the study period, whilst the number of females steadily increased. The number of male observations outside of the forest per annum was dependent on the population size and snow depth, whilst the number of cows in mixed groups moving outside of the forest was correlated with the population size only. Males were observed mainly alone (50 % of observations) or in small groups of two to three individuals (25 %); however, distribution of group size differed from those observed in the population. There was a significant difference between the direction of movement of males and females out of the forest-males moved mainly west and southwest, whilst females moved to the north. This was also significantly different from the expected movement direction. The mean distance of bison observations from the forest border was 1.8 ± 0.13 km and did not differ significantly between sexes. After 1990, males were observed significantly farther away from the forest (2.2 km) than in the previous years (0.9 km). Most observations (94 % of bulls and 93 % of cows) were up to 5 km from the forest edge. The range of bison in the vicinity of the Białowieża Forest was strictly seasonal. Most observations (78 % in males and 88 % in females) were recorded from November to April. Increasing utilisation of areas beyond the forest habitats may be driven by different factors but most probably it is related to range expansion and the bison's preference for open habitats. The strong seasonal pattern of bison movements indicate that the partial seasonal migrations were initiated in the Białowieża population.

Dataset Information

Human-Wildlife Conflict: The Human Dimension of European Bison Conservation in the Bieszczady Mountains (Poland).

Publications

Human-Wildlife Conflict: The Human Dimension of European Bison Conservation in the Bieszczady Mountains (Poland).

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