Predators in Switzerland:
Reasons for Existence or Lack of Public Acceptance

Marcel Hunziker

Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Research Department Landscape, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland;
Tel.: +41/1/739 24 59, Fax +41/1/737 40 80; E-mail: marcel.hunziker@wsl.ch

Rural as well as urban areas of Switzerland are currently experiencing an increase in predator populations. This development is not well accepted among parts of the public. Government agencies and NGO's are therefore conducting campaigns to rise public acceptance of predators in order to ensure their presence in the long run and to enable a friendly coexistence of humans and predators. An important prerequisite for successful campaigns is a thorough understanding of the underlying reasons for the existence or lack of acceptance. So far not enough knowledge has been available regarding the specific situation in Switzerland. To fill this gap was the aim of this project.

In an inductive research phase we conducted three case studies (by applying qualitative interviews), each considering the acceptance problems around the presence of one species, i.e. fox (in urban areas), lynx and wolf. In a deductive phase surveys were conducted (by applying standardised questionnaires) in order to investigate the attitudes towards the three predator species in the public at large.

It was found that people's general perception of nature represents the basic background of their attitudes towards predators. If these are really accepted or not, however, is closely related with the degree of their personal involvement in the predation problem. The chances for successfully improving the predator acceptance depend strongly on the quality of the relationship between those promoting the predators and those affected by the predator presence. It also became clear that the acceptance cannot be improved infinitely: Many people will not accept more than a limited number of predator individuals in their region.

It can be concluded that survey data gained from a majority of people not affected tend to overestimate the acceptance of predators and are therefore an uncertain basis for predator management: As soon as people are affected by predators, the number of those who refuse to accept them can dramatically increase. In order to improve the acceptance, establishing an atmosphere of confidence and tolerance among the relevant actors has the highest priority. To achieve a long lasting effect, people's perception of nature should be influenced by education. And sometimes, the revision of the - perharps unrealistic - goals of predator management might be the adequate solution.