A positive presentation of wolves affects the explicit and implicit attitudes of schoolchildren towards them

ABSTRACT

Large carnivore predators can be controversial animals, but sustainable coexistence with humans depends on peoples’ tolerance and willingness to support their conservation. We conducted a short-term study on a sample of Slovak schoolchildren (aged 9–15) aimed at changing attitudes toward the grey wolf. The intervention consisted of videos and PPT presentations showing the wolf as a predator with positive characteristics crucial for ecosystem functioning (experimental group) or as a pest of farm animals with negative characters depicted in fairy tales. Participants in the experimental group showed significantly better explicit and implicit attitudes toward wolves than participants in the control group. Our research shows that a well-designed short-term intervention highlighting the importance of wolves in nature contributes to building positive attitudes toward wolves in young people.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitudes toward predators; grey wolf; human-wildlife conflict

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

The study was approved by the institutional review board at Trnava University (licence no. KEIV2/2023).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by grants KEGA no. [008TTU-4/2023] and by the institutional grant of Trnava University no. [3/TU/2022].