Understanding attitudes and norms of dog walkers to reduce disturbances to shorebirds

ABSTRACT

Dog walking can disturb shorebirds. To inform disturbance reduction campaigns, we conducted a survey of dog walkers in Maine, New York, and South Carolina to understand beach recreationists’ attitudes about the benefits and constraints of voluntarily leashing dogs on beaches and their social and personal norms related to leashing. Common perceived constraints to leashing included perceptions about reducing socialization for dogs, reducing exercise for dogs, and dogs listening to owners’ commands. Common perceived benefits to leashing included perceptions about preventing dogs from running into areas for beach-nesting birds, increased safety for dogs, increased control by dog walkers, and keeping dogs away from other people. Benefits, location (i.e., state), and norms were strong predictors of the leashing frequency near beach-nesting birds. We discuss behavior change strategies to leverage social norms, decrease the constraints, and increase the benefits of voluntarily leashing dogs near shorebirds.

KEYWORDS:

• Shorebirds
• human disturbance
• dog walking
• leashing
• community-based social marketing
• social norms
• Atlantic Flyway

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the dog walkers who participated in our survey or interviews for taking the time to contribute to our research. We appreciate the assistance in securing research sites and field work logistics from Lindsey Tudor (Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife), Laura Minich Zitske (Maine Audubon), the Town of Kennebunkport, the Town of Kennebunck, the Town of Old Orchard Beach, the Town of Wells, Rachel Carson NWR, the Town of East Hampton, Audubon New York, Nolan Schillerstrom (Audubon South Carolina), Lori Sheridan Wilson (Dewees Island), the Town of Sullivan’s Island, and the City of Isle of Palms. We would also like to thank Walker Golder of National Audubon Society and the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative’s Human Activities Committee for their input on this research. Additionally, we would like to thank Joshua Mouser, Jonathan Rutter, Daniel Catlin, and Marc Stern for their review of previous versions of this manuscript. Funding for this research was provided by the National Audubon Society through a grant awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; National Audubon Society.