Abstract
Simple SummaryLarge carnivores distributed throughout Europe have interactions with people because their habitats often collide with human settlements. Since human behavior can significantly influence the conservation of these species, knowledge of certain behaviors and factors of influence are crucial. The present study included 534 students from lower and upper secondary schools. In this article, students’ attitudes to and knowledge of brown bears and the indirect effect of teaching are examined. Factors such as gender and seeing a bear in nature were found to influence the students’ attitudes and knowledge significantly, implying that they should be considered in any future educational actions. Other factors like residence, owning a dog, having a hunter in the family, breeding livestock and visiting a zoo had a smaller effect on the students’ attitudes and knowledge in general. The results thus indicate that greater knowledge was correlated with proconservation attitudes and reduced fear among the students.The expansion of large carnivores across Europe is posing a challenge to their conservation. Since success with conservation may depend significantly on human behavior, knowledge of certain behaviors’ emergence and all the factors that affect them are crucial. The present study included 534 students who were divided into a comparison group (n = 317) and a treatment group (n = 217) consisting of 309 lower secondary (LS, MAge = 12.2, SD = 0.94) and 225 upper secondary (US, n = 225, MAge = 16.5, SD = 0.99) school students. We assessed their attitudes to and knowledge of brown bears. An indirect effect of the workshops (instructions) is also described. Sociodemographic factors, such as gender and seeing a bear in nature, significantly influenced the students’ attitudes and knowledge. Residence, owning a dog, having a hunter in the family, breeding livestock and visiting a zoo had a smaller effect on the students’ attitudes and knowledge. The results thus show that greater knowledge is correlated with proconservation attitudes, and partly with reduction of fear. Therefore, future conservation and management should employ strong communication, especially education activities based on direct experiences and carefully designed information regarding species and socio-scientific issues.
Highlights
The expansion of large carnivore species across Europe [1] adds to the challenges entailed in conserving them [2]
The fourth part of the results describes the indirect impact of the treatment on the students’ knowledge
The results show that the amount of knowledge regarding bears determined the students’ attitudes to this species the most
Summary
The expansion of large carnivore species across Europe [1] adds to the challenges entailed in conserving them [2]. Brown bears (Ursus arctos L.) in Slovenia belong to the northern part of the wider Dinaric-Pindos population, spreading spatially and in abundant numbers [3]. The latest genetic estimation of the size of the brown bear population in Slovenia was made in 2015. Across Europe, large carnivores such as brown bears are spreading because of increasing forest cover, crop coverage, shrinking human population density and forest fragmentation. These species have considerable adaptability, which means that large their coexistence with humans depends not on habitat suitability, which is already present, but rather on humans’ acceptance and policies [6]. Even if the population is considered stable, human-bear conflicts are still the biggest threat to the successful long-term conservation of the species [3]
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