Residents' attitudes toward reintroduced sika deer in Kenting National Park, Taiwan

• Published in: Wildlife biology 2015-07, Vol.21 (4), p.220-226
• Main Authors: Yen, Shih-Ching, Chen, Kuang-Hsun, Wang, Ying, Wang, Cheng-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: attitudes and opinions; Cervus nippon; crop damage; crops; deer; ecotourism; environmental education; extinction; farmers; habitat destruction; interviews; issues and policy; livelihood; national parks; population growth; questionnaires
• ISSN: 0909-6396; 1903-220X
• DOI: 10.2981/wlb.00047

Hunting and habitat loss led to the extinction of the Formosan sika deer Cervus nippon taiouanus population in the wild in 1969. A sika deer restoration program has been in place in Kenting National Park (KTNP), Taiwan since 1984. Human—deer conflicts have increased following wild deer population growth. Understanding residents' attitudes toward reintroduced sika deer is vital to management policies. To investigate the local residents' attitudes, we collected 228 questionnaires through personal interviews in 2010. A majority of the respondents agreed that they would be happy to encounter a wild sika deer (78.1%), and a majority supported the restoration program in the KTNP (75.4%). However, 59.1% of the respondents knew little concerning the restoration program. Approximately half of the respondents (47.8%) thought that sika deer caused damages to crops, and 18.4% of the respondents actually suffered crop damages from deer. The farmers and people living within the deer's range were more vulnerable to deer damage; therefore, they were more aware of deer damage to their crops and livelihoods than non-farmers and people living outside of the deer's range. In addition, most respondents (87.2%) considered sika deer as an attractive tourism resource and were supportive of the development of ecotourism (87.3%). We recommend that the KTNP should improve public participation, environmental education, and communication with the local people. The development of community-based ecotourism would increase the benefits of the reintroduction of sika deer and would help to mitigate human—deer conflicts.