Predictors of intentions to conserve bats among New York property owners

ABSTRACT

Understanding why private property owners take actions to conserve bats has become increasingly important in U.S. states where the fungus causing white-nose syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) has decimated bat populations. We surveyed property owners in three New York State counties (n = 2,500) and used multiple linear regression analyses to test predictors of intentions to conserve bats. Intentions to take actions that contribute to bat conservation directly were predicted by severity of rabies consequences, sense of bat conservation self efficacy, beliefs about responsibility for bat conservation, and attitudes toward bats (R² =.39). Intentions to take actions that conserve bats indirectly were predicted by biospheric value orientations, beliefs about responsibility for bat conservation, and attitudes toward bats (R² =.27). The relationship between beliefs about rabies and intentions to take actions that contribute to bat conservation highlights the need for coordinated risk communication between public health and wildlife conservation organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Bats
• behavioral intention
• protection motivation theory
• rabies
• white-nose syndrome

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station (Project No. NYC-1477300) National Institute of Food and Agriculture [NIFA]), and by the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) White-Nose Syndrome Small Grants Initiative (administered on behalf of the US Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]).