Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T07:24:02.231Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Jaguar hunting in Amazonian extractive reserves: acceptance and prevalence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2019

Elildo AR Carvalho Jr*
Affiliation:
Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Mamíferos Carnívoros – CENAP/ICMBio, Estrada Municipal Hisaichi Takebayashi 8600, Atibaia, SP, 12952-011, Brazil and Faculty of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, PO Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway
*
Author for correspondence: Elildo AR Carvalho Jr, Email: [email protected]

Summary

Hunting is a major threat to the endangered jaguar in Brazil. Effective interventions for jaguar conservation demand a better understanding of the prevalence and motivations for hunting. In this study, I investigate the prevalence of jaguar hunting and the potential factors driving the acceptance of this behaviour among residents of two extractive reserves in the eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Between September and October 2013, I surveyed 134 households to assess people’s acceptance of jaguar hunting and potential predictors of acceptance using multiple-item rating scales. To estimate the prevalence of jaguar hunting, I used direct questioning and the randomized response technique. Acceptance of jaguar hunting was neutral to slightly positive on average, being related negatively to educational level and to people’s perceptions of risk of suffering sanctions for hunting a jaguar and related positively to perception of jaguars as a threat to humans. The prevalence rates of jaguar hunting among surveyed households were 9% and 23% according to direct questioning and the randomized response technique, respectively. The results suggest that investments in education and law enforcement may help decrease local support for jaguar hunting in the study area.

Type
Research Paper
Copyright
© Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antunes, AP, Rebêlo, GH, Pezzuti, JCB, Vieira, MARM, Constantino, PAL, Campos-Silva, JV, Fonseca, R et al. (2019) A conspiracy of silence: subsistence hunting rights in the Brazilian Amazon. Land Use Policy 84: 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartón, K (2013) MuMIn: multi-model inference R package version 1 [www document]. URL https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=MuMIn.Google Scholar
Baruch-Mordo, S, Breck, SW, Wilson, KR, Broderick, J (2011) The carrot or the stick? Evaluation of education and enforcement as management tools for human–wildlife conflicts. PLoS One 6: e15681.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burnham, KP, Anderson, DR (2001) Kullback–Leibler information as a basis for strong inference in ecological studies. Wildlife Research 28: 111119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, Jr , EAR, Pezzuti, JCB (2010) Hunting of jaguars and pumas in the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve, Brazilian Amazonia. Oryx 44: 610612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, Jr , EAR, Zarco-González, MM, Monroy-Vilchis, O, Morato, RG (2015) Modeling the risk of livestock depredation by jaguar along the Transamazon highway, Brazil. Basic and Applied Ecology 16: 413419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cialdini, RB, Reno, RR, Kallgren, CA (1990) A focus theory of normative conduct: recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58: 10151026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickman, AJ (2010) Complexities of conflict: the importance of considering social factors for effectively resolving human–wildlife conflict. Animal Conservation 13: 458466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisinga, R, Grotenhuis, M, Pelzer, B (2013) The reliability of a two-item scale: Pearson, Cronbach, or Spearman–Brown? International Journal of Public Health 58: 637642.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Engel, MT, Vaske, JJ, Bath, AJ, Marchini, S (2016) Predicting acceptability of jaguars and pumas in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 21: 427444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, MT, Vaske, JJ, Bath, AJ, Marchini, S (2017) Attitudes toward jaguars and pumas and the acceptability of killing big cats in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: an application of the Potential for Conflict Index2 . Ambio 46: 604612.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fearnside, PM (1989) Extractive reserves in Brazilian Amazonia. BioScience 39: 387393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferreira, YC, Sobrinho, MV, Vasconcellos, AM (2017) Cogestão em Reserva Extrativista na Amazônia: inovação social para sustentabilidade? O caso da Resex Terra Grande do Pracuúba, estado do Pará. P2P e INOVAÇÃO 3: 91109.Google Scholar
Gavin, MC, Solomon, JN, Blank, SG (2010) Measuring and monitoring illegal use of natural resources. Conservation Biology 24: 89100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goulding, M, Barthem, R, Ferreira, E (2003) The Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon. Washington, DC, USA: Smithsonian Books.Google Scholar
Harrison, M, Baker, J, Twinamatsiko, M, Milner‐Gulland, EJ (2015) Profiling unauthorized natural resource users for better targeting of conservation interventions. Conservation Biology 29: 16361646.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Inskip, C, Ridout, M, Fahad, Z, Tully, R, Barlow, A, Barlow, CG, Islam, MA et al. (2013) Human–tiger conflict in context: risks to lives and livelihoods in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. Human ecology 41: 169186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inskip, C, Fahad, Z, Tully, R, Roberts, T, MacMillan, D (2014) Understanding carnivore killing behaviour: exploring the motivations for tiger killing in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Biological Conservation 180: 4250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jachmann, H (2008) Monitoring law-enforcement performance in nine protected areas in Ghana. Biological Conservation 141: 8999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jędrzejewski, W, Carreño, R, Sánchez-Mercado, A, Schmidt, K, Abarca, M, Robinson, HS, Boede, EO et al. (2017) Human–jaguar conflicts and the relative importance of retaliatory killing and hunting for jaguar (Panthera onca) populations in Venezuela. Biological Conservation 209: 524532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klöckner, CA (2013) A comprehensive model of the psychology of environmental behaviour – a meta-analysis. Global Environmental Change 23: 10281038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lensvelt-Mulders, GJ, Hox, JJ, Van der Heijden, PG, Maas, CJ (2005) Meta-analysis of randomized response research: thirty-five years of validation. Sociological Methods & Research 33: 319348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madden, F (2004) Creating coexistence between humans and wildlife: global perspectives on local efforts to address human–wildlife conflict. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 9: 247257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchini, S, Macdonald, DW (2012) Predicting rancher’s intention to kill jaguars: case studies in Amazonia and Pantanal. Biological Conservation 147: 213221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newing, H, Eagle, C, Puri, R, Watson, CW (2011) Conducting Research in Conservation: A Social Science Perspective . London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nuno, A, St John, FA (2015) How to ask sensitive questions in conservation: a review of specialized questioning techniques. Biological Conservation 189: 515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peres, CA (2013) Biodiversity conservation performance of sustainable use tropical forest reserves. In: Conservation Biology: Voices from the Tropics , eds. Navjot, S, Sodhi, S, Gibson, L, Raven, PH, pp. 245253. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinho, PF, Patenaude, G, Ometto, JP, Meir, P, Toledo, PM, Coelho, A, Young, CEF (2014) Ecosystem protection and poverty alleviation in the tropics: perspective from a historical evolution of policy-making in the Brazilian Amazon. Ecosystem Services 8: 97109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porfirio, G, Sarmento, P, Leal, S, Fonseca, C (2016). How is the jaguar Panthera onca perceived by local communities along the Paraguai River in the Brazilian Pantanal? Oryx 50: 163168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramalho, EE (2012) Jaguar (Panthera onca) Population Dynamics, Feeding Ecology, Human Induced Mortality, and Conservation in the Várzea Floodplain Forests of Amazonia. Dissertation, University of Florida, FL, USA.Google Scholar
Razafimanahaka, JH, Jenkins, RKB, Andriafidison, D, Randrianandrianina, F, Rakotomboavonjy, V, Keane, A, Jones, JPG (2012) Novel approach for quantifying illegal bushmeat consumption reveals high consumption of protected species in Madagascar. Oryx 46: 584592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ripple, WJ, Estes, JA, Beschta, RL, Wilmers, CC, Ritchie, EG, Hebblewhite, M, Berger, J et al. (2014) Status and ecological effects of the world’s largest carnivores. Science 343: 1241484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Røskaft, E, Händel, B, Bjerke, T, Kaltenborn, BP (2007) Human attitudes towards large carnivores in Norway. Wildlife Biology 13: 172185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schill, DI, Kline, PA (1995) Use of random response to estimate angler noncompliance with fishing regulations. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 15: 721731.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, RA, Serfass, DG (2015) The comprehensive approach to analyzing multivariate constructs. Journal of Research in Personality 54: 4050.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slovic, P (1987) Perception of risk. Science 236: 280285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, NJH (1999) The Amazon River Forest . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Solomon, J, Jacobson, SK, Wald, KD, Gavin, M (2007) Estimating illegal resource use at a Ugandan park with the randomized response technique. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 12: 7588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soto-Shoender, JR, Main, MB (2013) Differences in stakeholder perceptions of the jaguar Panthera onca and puma Puma concolor in the tropical lowlands of Guatemala. Oryx 47: 109112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
St John, FA, Keane, AM, Edwards-Jones, G, Jones, L, Yarnell, RW, Jones, JP (2012) Identifying indicators of illegal behaviour: carnivore killing in human-managed landscapes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 279: 804812.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
St John, FA, Mai, CH, Pei, KJC (2015) Evaluating deterrents of illegal behaviour in conservation: carnivore killing in rural Taiwan. Biological Conservation 189: 8694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
St John, FA, Brockington, D, Bunnefeld, N, Duffy, R, Homewood, K, Jones, JP, Keane, AM et al. (2016) Research ethics: assuring anonymity at the individual level may not be sufficient to protect research participants from harm. Biological Conservation 196: 208209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steg, L, Vlek, C (2009) Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: an integrative review and research agenda. Journal of Environmental Psychology 29: 309317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Carvalho supplementary material

Carvalho supplementary material 1

Download Carvalho supplementary material(File)
File 16.4 KB