Introduction
Public support for carnivore conservation is complex and complicated by historically widespread anecdotes that portray predators as a nuisance and instill fear of attacks on livestock, pets, and people [1]. The offending animals are not often observed in the act, and blame for the damage or attack is sometimes attributed to the wrong species [2, 3, 4]. These challenges support why conservation managers must increase efforts to understand local citizen attitudes and perceptions toward wildlife, especially since endangered species protection often relies on support from local communities [e.g., 5, 6]; as is the case for the endangered dhole (Cuon alpinus).
Dholes are a social, pack-living species that prefer to hunt large to medium sized ungulate prey. They are native to South and Southeast Asia and occur across a wide range of land cover types, including tropical dry and moist deciduous forest, evergreen forest, scrub forest, grassland, and alpine steppe. Dholes have been historically persecuted throughout their range and are often perceived by local citizens as nuisance predators and livestock killers. This perception has led to retaliatory killing by humans, and the subsequent eradication of many dhole populations throughout Asia. Dholes were regarded as “pests of the jungles,” and were trapped, shot, or poisoned [7]. Reports from the early 1900s spread negative stories of dholes and listed effective strychnine (a conventional predator poison) dosages for their extermination [8]. As late as 1972, the government of India paid bounties for dhole pelts [9], and in the 1980s, government officials and farmers in Bhutan poisoned dholes until the species was extirpated from the country [10]. In Thailand, managers in Khao Yai National Park (KYNP) recently reported an increased number of dhole sightings, concluded that the population was increasing, and became concerned that dhole packs might attack tourists and have a negative effect on sambar deer (Rusa unicolor; pers. comm. P. Wohandee [prior Superintendent at KYNP]). Senior managers debated culling as an option to curtail dhole populations, highlighting the impact of negative attitudes on ad-hoc approaches to managing the endangered canid.
Dholes are found in several protected areas in Thailand and perhaps in areas outside the parks [11]. Despite their extensive distribution and occurrence in human-use areas, their role as livestock predators and people’s perception of them have not been assessed. Here we report on interview surveys assessing local people’s knowledge about dholes and their perceptions of dholes as “nuisance” predators. We examine how geography, education, demography, and economics affect conservation attitudes toward these predators by people who live adjacent to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in southeastern Thailand.