Alberta hunter knowledge and beliefs about the threat of zoonotic diseases in Canadian wood bison

Abstract

ABSTRACT We evaluated whether knowledge of zoonotic diseases is related to beliefs about the threat of those diseases in wood bison. An online questionnaire of Alberta hunters (n = 239) was primarily conducted through the provincial government’s hunter licensing system. Respondent knowledge of bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis in Canada was limited and non-linearly related to threat beliefs. Higher knowledge was associated with believing the diseases are or are not a threat to human health rather than being unsure. Respondents were clustered based on their agreement that the diseases are threats to personal health. The Strongly Disagree cluster had significantly higher knowledge than the Neutral cluster. The Higher Agreement cluster had higher knowledge than the Neutral and lower knowledge than the Strongly Disagree clusters, but these differences were not significant. Results highlight how conflict could arise if increasing disease knowledge is assumed to lead to specific changes in disease threat-related beliefs.