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Abstract:

The spontaneous wolf reentry in Belgium was amply documented by genetic analyses and GPS-collar-data tracing them back to their origin populations and demonstrating their travel routes. Nevertheless a public belief is circulating that the wolves have been artificially introduced by man. We questioned the opinions of the public on the reentry of the wolf in Belgium among 1092 respondents by an on-line survey. We scored traits that could potentially influence the opinions such as age, sex, urban of rural living, level of education, owning pets or livestock, exposure to hunting activities, participation in hunting activities, time spent in nature, organisation membership. A roughly equal number of respondents was solicited through either nature or hunting-related organisations. 53% of the respondents thought the wolves came spontaneously to Belgium, 38% thought the wolf was reintroduced by man and 9% did not know. A multinomial logistic model showed that all factors except for age and degree of exposure to hunting significantly influenced the opinion. Factors that predicted the opinion that the wolves reentry was spontaneous were: female gender, urban-living, higher education, not owning dogs, owning cats, not owning livestock, not actively participating at hunting, spending little time in nature and being linked with a nature organisation. Factors that predicted the opinion that wolves are being artificially introduced were: being male, having a lower education level, living outside cities, owning a dog, not owning a cat, owning livestock, actively participating in hunting, spending much time in nature and being linked with a hunting organisation. 91% of the people who thought the wolf was reintroduced artificially had a negative attitude towards the arrival of the wolf in Belgium; 90% of the people who thought the wolf came spontaneously had a positive attitude. Previously, in other European studies, it was found that hunting, having a dog or livestock, living in a rural area, having a lower level of education were correlated with a negative attitude towards wolves. We conclude that opinions on either spontaneous or artificial reentry of the wolf are strongly influenced by individual and sociological factors, similar to positive or negative attitudes towards the wolf. The complex interplay of factors needs to be further disentangled.