IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Payan, E.; Homewood, K.; Durant, S.; Carbone, C. | |
| The Role of Human Attitudes to Big Cat Conservation: Colombia as a Tropical Example | |
| 2007 Conference Proceeding | |
Jaguars, pumas and ocelots are threatened by processes resulting from human activities, mainly habitat loss, retaliatory hunting and prey competition. Evaluating and acknowledging human attitudes, which drive these processes, will contribute to cat coexistence and conservation. We present data on questions about attitudes towards big cats, ranging from rural school children to Andean pumas (n=50), Llanos cattle ranchers to jaguars and pumas (n=37), and indigenous Amazon communities to jaguars, pumas and ocelots (n=70). Questions deal with coexistence of cats and people, conservation, depredation, hunting and management, abundance, and admiration. Most respondents (70%) would like to see a large cat, although less than 55% like sharing their land with felids and there is a general opinion (83%) that cats should survive but "not in my backyard". Ranchers think it is important to conserve jaguars (64%) and prefer to share their lands with them than with pumas. Although, 37% consider jaguars a problem animal. Amazonian Indians prefer sharing their land with ocelots (89%) than with jaguars (40%). Half of all interviewees think jaguars attack unprovoked, 77% have heard of attacks and 75% fear it. Llanos and Amazon cat abundance is perceived as decreasing but Andean puma as increasing. Admiration prevails among respondents. |
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