Wolves were long extinct in parts of Central Europe. Thanks to strict species protection, they have been able to spread again in recent decades. This poses challenges: to prevent grazing animals such as sheep and cattle from being torn apart by hungry wolves, herd protection is essential in many places. A research team from the University of Göttingen, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU), Technische Universität Dresden and the Swiss KORA Foundation conducted a survey among farmers with grazing animals in Bavaria to find out how animal owners feel about measures such as "wolf-repellent fences" or guard dogs and whether the availability of funding has an influence on this. Willingness depends on the social environment and financial support. The results showed that the willingness to protect livestock depends primarily on the social environment. In addition, financial support is associated with greater willingness.
The results show that subsidies favour the use of livestock protection measures. It is therefore advisable to extend subsidies for wolf-repellent fences to the entire federal state," says Dr Malte Möck, a researcher at the Department of Agricultural and Food Policy at the Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences at the HU. The researchers based their study on the "theory of planned behaviour". According to the theory, whether someone does something or not depends primarily on how strongly the person is determined to engage in the behaviour. Their intention is influenced by three factors: personal attitude ("Do I think it makes sense?"), social pressure ("How does my environment feel about it?") and perceived control ("Can I do it?").
Further information
Press release of the Georg-August-University Göttingen
Contact
Dr Malte Möck
Department of Agricultural and Food Policy at the Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences
at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Phone: +49 (0)30 2093 46323
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