Residents’ concerns and attitudes regarding wildlife disease management: A case of chronic wasting disease in Tennessee

Abstract

ABSTRACT Most of the literature on the chronic wasting disease (CWD) has focused on the attitudes of deer hunters. Designing public policies to manage CWD requires an understanding of how other stakeholders (landowners, non-hunting public) perceive the risk and react. By surveying a sample of residents in Tennessee, this study compared the concerns, agency trust, and acceptability of management actions among resident groups segmented based on their proximity to CWD presence, hunter status, and land ownership status. Responses from seven CWD counties and four adjacent counties were generally similar, but notable differences were found between hunters and non-hunters and between landowners and non-landowners. Considering that the cooperation from all stakeholders will be critical for the success of a regional CWD management program, it may be important for wildlife agencies to recognize the heterogeneity in preferences and the sensitivity of proposed actions among stakeholders before implementation and enforcement.