Are Carnivores Considered Equal by Romanian Hunters?

Since 2016, the ban on trophy hunting of large carnivores in Romania has caused emotions to run high and attitudes to change amongst the Romanian hunter population. The country has always known as an area with the highest... [ view full abstract ]

Since 2016, the ban on trophy hunting of large carnivores in Romania has caused emotions to run high and attitudes to change amongst the Romanian hunter population. The country has always known as an area with the highest densities of brown bears (Ursus arctos), gray wolves (Canis lupus), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and wildcats (Felis silvestris) in Europe. Romanian hunters pride themselves on sustaining a resource, wherein many parts of Europe, large carnivore numbers were severely reduced. The ban on trophy hunting, a relatively quick decision by the Romanian Ministry of Environment, has angered Romanian hunters, as they feel these animals are not valued and management of the species to reduce property damages has been taken out of the hunters’ hands. Understanding hunters’ attitudes toward wildlife has long been a central theme to human dimensions (HD) research, but little is known of hunters’ views in Romania. Given this context, there is a huge need to give hunters a voice in the debate by documenting their attitudes, beliefs, and values toward brown bears, gray wolves, Eurasian lynx, and wildcats. Usually, HD researchers have focused on understanding a specific interest group’s attitudes toward a single species. In this paper, we will focus on understanding how attitudes vary across four species in order to explore whether hunters value all carnivores the same. Data was collected from hunters who live in the immediate area of the Făgăraș Mountains, a mountain range in the heart of the Carpathians where all four carnivores exist. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from hunters. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with presidents of the various hunting associations around Făgăraș Mountains to explore key themes and concerns about the four species. This qualitative research offered guidance to develop a quantitative research instrument that focuses on the most important issues. The quantitative research instrument consisted of 186, items exploring wildlife value orientations and identical items regarding perceptions of impacts, attitudes, and beliefs toward gray wolves, brown bears, Eurasian lynx, and wildcats. The self-administered questionnaire was distributed to members’ hunting association presents in the study area and who held a wild boar license during the 2017-2018 hunting season.  

This presentation will explore Potential for Conflict Index_2, the differences in hunter views across the four species regarding attitudes, and the support/opposition for various lethal management actions. From the results of the responded questionnaires (n=500), hunters’ attitudes toward the four carnivores do differ. In contrast to previous research, where gray wolves have been perceived as extremely negative, we found that hunters held the most negative attitudes toward brown bears. The brown bear symbolizes the most income for Romanian hunters and causes the most human-wildlife conflict which we suggest explains this predominately negative view. As the trophy hunting ban continues within Romania, we fear these attitudes may only become more negative, and the values (perceived and economical) of carnivores will deteriorate in the view of Romanian hunters.