The Return of Large Carnivores and Extensive Farming Systems: A Review of Stakeholders’ Perception at an EU Level

Conflicts between large carnivores and human activities undermine both the maintenance of livestock practices as well as the conservation of carnivores across Europe. Because large carnivore management is driven by a common EU policy, the purpose of this research was to assess stakeholders’ percepti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2021-06, Vol.11 (6), p.1735
Main Authors: Franchini, Marcello, Corazzin, Mirco, Bovolenta, Stefano, Filacorda, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal husbandry
Attitudes
Bears
Biodiversity
Carnivores
Categories
Cattle
Coexistence
Colonization
Common Agricultural Policy
Conflicts of interest
Conservation
European Union
Extensive farming
Farmers
Farming systems
human–carnivore conflict
Inhabitants
Likert scale
Livestock
livestock system
Maintenance
Monitoring
Perception
Perceptions
Political power
Population dynamics
predator
Predators
Review
Rural areas
Sheep
Stakeholders
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Conflicts between large carnivores and human activities undermine both the maintenance of livestock practices as well as the conservation of carnivores across Europe. Because large carnivore management is driven by a common EU policy, the purpose of this research was to assess stakeholders’ perception towards bears and wolves at an EU level. We conducted a systematic search and subsequent analysis of 40 peer-reviewed studies collected from 1990 to September 2020 within Member States of the EU. Rural inhabitants and hunters exhibited the most negative attitude compared to urban inhabitants and conservationists, whose attitude was more positive. We showed that direct experience with predators as a consequence of ongoing re-colonization may have affected the degree of acceptance of certain categories and that the long-term coexistence between humans and carnivores does not necessarily imply increased tolerance. To encourage coexistence, we recommend monitoring changes in attitudes over time relative to carnivore population dynamics.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani11061735