Understanding people's willingness to implement measures to manage human-bear conflict in Florida

Abstract

In 2009, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) began surveying individuals who reported human–bear conflicts. The purpose of this survey is to assess whether individuals take actions recommended by the FWC to reduce or eliminate conflicts. Using logit analysis, we determined which factors influenced the likelihood that surveyed individuals would follow the advice provided by the FWC for managing human–bear conflicts. We found outreach efforts by the FWC increased the probability that people who report conflicts to the agency adopted recommended measures to reduce these conflicts. Our results indicate that outreach efforts by wildlife agencies increase the likelihood that people will alter their behavior to reduce human–bear conflicts. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.