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Feeding ecology of carnivores is integral to understanding their role in the ecosystem and the effect they have on their prey species. This study aims to better our understanding of Black-backed jackal feeding ecology in a fairly natural ecosystem, to contribute towards more informed depredation management in surrounding agri-ecosystems. Scat analysis was used to investigate the diet of Black-backed jackal inside a 5590 ha formal protected area, namely Maria Moroka Nature Reserve, which is surrounded by cattle and small stock farms. The six main prey groups identified from 334 scats were mice, springhare, antelope (c. 98% Springbok), hare, small carnivores and fruit. Rodents (mice mean monthly percentage occurrence 36%, springhare 31%) were utilized the most frequently, followed by antelope (Springbok 22% Occ; Blesbok 0.51%). The next most used prey group was small carnivores, present in 8% of scats. Hares and fruit, but also birds and invertebrates, were taken sporadically. No stock remains were found in the scats. Very similar results were obtained when volumetric contributions were calculated, resulting in mice (mean monthly contribution = 33% Vol; Importance Value, IV = 15.2), springhare (30% Vol; IV = 11.9) and antelope (24% Vol; IV = 10.0) being the most important prey items. Small carnivores (8% Vol) had an Importance Value of 1.2, and all other prey groups scored less than 0.4 IV. The wide variety of prey used, together with their monthly fluctuations (which for some groups could be coupled to availability) and prey switching between the three most important prey items mice, springhare and antelope, support opportunistic feeding behaviour by Black-backed jackal in the study area. The results also confirmed that Black-backed jackal does utilize Springbok as a major food source, and that this usage peaked during the two periods when Springbok lamb at Maria Moroka Nature Reserve. These periods do not only coincide with the Black-backed jackal pupping and dispersal seasons, but also with the two sheep lambing seasons in the central and southern Free State Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Himalayan wolf Canis sp. and snow leopard Panthera uncia are found in the Nepalese Himalayas where conservation efforts target the latter but not the former. We conducted semistructured questionnaire surveys of 71 residents in upper Humla, upper Dolpa, and Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) during 2014–2016 to understand people's knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and interactions with these two carnivores. We fitted a cumulative link mixed model to predict Likert scale ordinal responses from a series of Generalized Linear Mixed Models. Overall, attitudes were more positive toward snow leopards than wolves. Livestock depredation was the main predictor of the general negative attitude toward wolves (Estimate = −1.30873; p =.029866) but there was no evidence for an effect for snow leopards (Estimate = −0.3640; p =.631446). Agropastoralists had more negative attitudes than respondents with other occupations toward both carnivores and men had more positive attitudes than women. Among our study areas, respondents in the community‐owned KCA had the most positive attitudes. Our findings illustrate the need to reduce human–carnivore conflict through a combined approach of education, mitigation, and economic cost‐sharing with respectful engagement of local communities. Specifically, to encourage more villagers to participate in livestock insurance schemes, they should be improved by including all large carnivores and adjusting compensation to the market value of a young replacement of the depredated livestock type. Carnivore conservation interventions should target the whole predator guild to achieve long‐term success and to protect the Himalayan ecosystem at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-wildlife conflicts are increasing globally, especially involving livestock depredation by carnivores. To understand the relationship between predation frequency and attitudes toward predators, researchers quantified livestock losses for four carnivore species—African wild dog, spotted hyena, leopard, and lion—as well as attitudes toward these carnivores in Westgate Community Conservancy, Samburu, Kenya. Methods included a three-year data collection period of conflict incidents followed by structured interviews to assess community attitudes. Results demonstrated that livestock depredation mainly involved leopards and spotted hyenas, preying most often on sheep and goats. Attitudes toward lions and hyenas were generally proportionate to their predation involvement. However, the frequency of predation did not always elicit such an expected response, as community members held positive attitudes toward leopards despite their high involvement in conflict, but disliked African wild dogs regardless of their low involvement. The discrepancy in attitudes could be attributed to cultural values, economic losses, and perceived risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Surplus killing (i.e. predation in which predators kill more prey than necessary to satiate their hunger) appears to be widespread in carnivores and has the potential to exacerbate human–carnivore conflict. Nevertheless, little is known about the frequency of surplus killing or about its impact on livestock. We review the information available on surplus killing by pumas Puma concolor and use data from central Argentina to quantify its impact on ranching and to analyse both its causes and its implications for puma–human conflicts. We reviewed 73 publications and found nine mentions of surplus killing events from six countries. The sheep was by far the most commonly affected livestock species. In central Argentina, surplus killing was reported by 25–33% of the ranchers. In this region, the number of livestock killed during each event ranged from seven to 160 (median = 23) for the literature reports and from two to 70 (median = 7) in the records we personally collated. The number of individual animals killed per event was greater for interview‐based second‐hand reports than for first‐hand reports and verified events. Our results indicate that although surplus killing by pumas is uncommonly reported in the literature, it may be locally recurrent. Although surplus killing may be overestimated in interview‐based reports, it can produce significant losses for sheep and goat ranchers, may strongly exacerbate puma–human conflicts, and should be considered in puma–human conflict mitigation strategies. Ranchers typically attributed surplus killing to female pumas teaching kittens to hunt. However, there is little evidence supporting this interpretation. Surplus killing by pumas may be more likely to occur in situations where the predator's ‘normal’ hunting sequence is disrupted by the accessibility of large numbers of easy prey. Confinement, stormy weather and poor antipredator behaviour may favour the occurrence of surplus killing events on livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compensation programs are used globally to increase tolerance for and help offset economic loss caused by large carnivores. Compensation program funding comes from a variety of sources, and in Wyoming and Idaho, USA and Alberta, Canada this includes revenue from hunting and fishing license sales. We review the patterns of livestock depredation and compensation costs of Alberta’s predator-compensation program, and compare Alberta’s program to compensation programs in neighboring Canadian and American jurisdictions. Current compensation costs in Alberta are well below historic levels, but have been rapidly increasing in recent years due to an increase in depredation events coupled with increased cattle prices. That increase has caused push back from Alberta’s hunting and fishing community that finances the compensation program, although less than 3.6% of Alberta’s license levy dollars are used for predator compensation. Hunting effort in Alberta is highest on the same privately owned lands with livestock depredation problems, suggesting that private lands support habitats for hunted ungulate species as well as carnivores. Although compensation programs do not prevent depredation events themselves, compensation programs effectively can support the maintenance of wildlife habitats on private lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock depredation by large carnivores entails economic damage to farmers in many parts of the world. The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare the costs of livestock depredation by carnivores in Sweden across different carnivore species and counties. To this end, we estimate the government's compensation cost function using Swedish data on the county level over the period of 2001 to 2013. Compensation costs due to depredation by three large carnivores are considered: the brown bear ( Ursus arctos ), the wolf ( Canis lupus ) and the lynx ( Lynx lynx ). The results show that a 1% increase in the density of the carnivores leads to a 0.3–0.4% increase in compensation costs, whereas a 1% increase in the density of sheep results in a 0.8 and 1.1% increase in the compensation costs for brown bears and wolves, respectively. A larger share of unfenced pastures is associated with higher compensation costs for brown bear. The marginal cost of an additional carnivore individual varies considerably between counties, ranging between 1 and 82 EUR for lynxes, 0 and 266 EUR for brown bears, and 52 and 1067 EUR for wolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient conservation of wide-ranging carnivores requires that adaptive management consider the varying ecological and societal conditions within the entire range of a population. In northern Europe, large carnivore management has to balance carnivore conservation and maintaining the indigenous reindeer-herding culture. Wolverine Gulo gulo monitoring and management in Sweden is currently focused on alpine reindeer husbandry areas where wolverine abundance and associated depredation conflicts have been highest. However, this focus ignores a potential southwards population expansion because current monitoring relies on snow-based tracking methods that are not applicable outside northern alpine areas. Thus, in this study we: (1) used available monitoring data from 1996 to 2014 in Sweden to assess wolverine distribution trends in relation to national management goals, and (2) evaluate the current monitoring protocol against the use of camera stations as an alternative, snow-independent, method for detecting wolverine presence at the southern periphery of its distribution. We show that the wolverine population in Sweden has expanded considerably into the boreal forest landscape, and colonized areas without reindeer husbandry and persistent spring snow cover. The latter indicates a less strict relationship between wolverine distribution and snow cover than previously hypothesized. Current management continues to use a monitoring protocol that is only adapted to high-conflict alpine areas, and is not adapting to changing conditions in the population range, which creates a problematic scale mismatch. Consequently, national management decisions are currently based on incomplete population information, as roughly a third of wolverine's range is not included in official population estimates, which could have detrimental consequences for conflict mitigation and conservation efforts. This illustrates that an important key to successful carnivore conservation is flexible management that considers the entire range of conditions at the appropriate regional and temporal scales under which carnivores, environment and people interact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock depredation by large carnivores is frequently reported in Qomolangma (Mt. Everest) National Nature Reserve, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Seeking to minimize conflicts, we assessed depredation patterns and ways to upgrade the compensation program. We gathered 9193 conflict records over 2011–2013 to determine the extent and tempo-spatial patterns of the depredation. We interviewed 22 local officials and 94 residents to learn their views on depredations and to assess the adequacy of compensation. Data showed that wolves ( Canis lupus ), lynx ( Lynx lynx ), and snow leopards ( Panthera uncia ) were the major livestock predators. Total livestock loss accounted for 1.2% of the entire stockholding (n = 846,707) in the region. Wolves and lynx tended to take sheep and goats, whereas snow leopards favored yaks and cattle in relation to their proportional abundance. Predation mostly occurred in March through July. Livestock depredation by all predators when combined was best explained by terrain ruggedness and density of small- and large-bodied livestock. Temporal and spatial predation patterns varied among carnivores. Most respondents (74%) attributed depredation causes to an increase in carnivore abundance. Only 7% blamed lax livestock herding practice for predation losses. Five percent said that predation was the result of livestock population increases, while 11% had no idea. The compensation scheme was found to be flawed in all aspects—predation verification, application procedure, compensation standard, operational resource allocation, making payment, and other problems. To enhance management for human–carnivore coexistence, we recommend a problem-oriented, integrated, adaptive approach that targets the complex social context of the conflict and addresses the interconnected functions of decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural depopulation has different effects on biodiversity and ecosystems in many regions of the world. For large carnivores such as pumas (Puma concolor) the effects are uncertain. An analysis of relationships between patterns of rural depopulation and perceptions of the risk posed by pumas among Aymara people in the altiplano region of Chile examined perceived risk, as well as self-reported losses, in relation to livestock husbandry, sociodemographic variables (age, household size, and residency status), and reported self-sufficiency. There was no evidence that rural depopulation elevated perceived risk, or the level of self-reported losses of livestock blamed on pumas. Indeed, many respondents, including older respondents and those with smaller households, reported a decline in perceived risk over the preceding five years. These perceptions of risk were not associated with self-reported losses to pumas in the previous year. An increase in perceived risk was associated with the use of guards for livestock, suggesting livestock owners accommodated their absences from herds by using guards. Absolute numbers of livestock lost increased with the distance from households to where livestock were grazed or gave birth. A cost-effective verification system for puma attacks is recommended, and further human dimensions research is required to identify the owners who complained and the costs and benefits of different wildlife species. Further interventions to prevent either livestock losses or retaliation against pumas can then be targeted more precisely. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is increasing evidence of large carnivore presence outside protected areas, globally. Although this spells conservation success through population recoveries, it makes carnivore persistence in human-use landscapes tenuous. The widespread distribution of leopards in certain regions of India typifies this problem. We obtained information on leopard-human interactions at a regional scale in Karnataka State, India, based on systematic surveys of local media reports. We applied an innovative occupancy modelling approach to map their distribution patterns and identify hotspots of livestock/human depredation. We also evaluated management responses like removals of ‘problem’ leopards through capture and translocations. Leopards occupied around 84,000 km2 or 47% of the State’s geographic area, outside designated national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Their presence was facilitated by extent of vegetative cover- including irrigated croplands, rocky escarpments, and prey base in the form of feral and free-ranging dogs. Higher probabilities of livestock/human attacks by leopards were associated with similar ecological features as well as with capture/removals of leopards. Of the 56 cases of leopard removals reported, 91% did not involve human attacks, but followed livestock predation or only leopard sightings. The lack of knowledge on leopard ecology in human-use areas has resulted in unscientific interventions, which could aggravate the problem rather than mitigating it. Our results establish the presence of resident, breeding leopards in human-use areas. We therefore propose a shift in management focus, from current reactive practices like removal and translocation of leopards, to proactive measures that ensure safety of human lives and livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock depredation has implications for conservation and agronomy; it can be costly for farmers and can prompt retaliatory killing of carnivores. Lethal control measures are readily available and are reportedly perceived to be cheaper, more practical and more effective than non-lethal methods. However, the costs and efficacy of lethal vs non-lethal approaches have rarely been compared formally. We conducted a 3-year study on 11 South African livestock farms, examining costs and benefits of lethal and non-lethal conflict mitigation methods. Farmers used existing lethal control in the first year and switched to guardian animals (dogs Canis familiaris and alpacas Lama pacos) or livestock protection collars for the following 2 years. During the first year the mean cost of livestock protection was USD 3.30 per head of stock and the mean cost of depredation was USD 20.11 per head of stock. In the first year of non-lethal control the combined implementation and running costs were similar to those of lethal control (USD 3.08 per head). However, the mean cost of depredation decreased by 69.3%, to USD 6.52 per head. In the second year of non-lethal control the running costs (USD 0.43 per head) were significantly lower than in previous years and depredation costs decreased further, to USD 5.49 per head. Our results suggest that non-lethal methods of human–wildlife conflict mitigation can reduce depredation and can be economically advantageous compared to lethal methods of predator control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities affect large carnivores worldwide by increasing mortality due to destruction and fragmentation of habitats, decrease of prey availability, and hunting pressure. The jaguar ( Panthera onca) is a large carnivore strongly influenced by these threats, with poaching of predators being primarily a retaliatory response that is motivated by depredation of domestic animals. We investigate the distribution of jaguars and cattle depredation in 21 sampling units located in Central Brazil. We consider native and domestic prey availability as well as landscape configuration and composition as possible contributory factors. We removed correlated variables and conducted a set of logistic regressions in a step-wise approach. We used the difference between χ2 of the newest and the previous model to evaluate if the addition of a variable increased the explanatory power of the newest model. Jaguar occurrence was influenced by prey richness, which is correlated with habitat aggregation in the landscape, revealing the attributes that can act as proxies for environmental quality for jaguar. The relationship between jaguar and prey richness also suggests that jaguar can act as a surrogate for the presence of other species. Jaguar occurrence is also related to the availability of non-native prey such as cattle, but not cattle depredation, suggesting that cattle depredation could be an opportunistic event. Patterns of cattle depredation warrant further study because human-wildlife conflict is one of the greatest threats to jaguar conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assess local perceptions towards snow leopards in North West China using a framework depicting key conflict domains. We describe the perceived threats posed to humans by the snow leopard and set them within beliefs and attitudes towards other species within the large carnivore assemblage in this region. Surveys were conducted in seven villages within Qilianshan National Nature Reserve, Gansu Province, China, to document reports of snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ), grey wolf ( Canis lupus ), Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ) and brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) depredation of livestock, and local attitudes towards each species. Questionnaire-based interviews were held with 60 households and 49 livestock herders. Herding of yak, sheep and goats was found to be a common livelihood activity among households in all villages. Herders reported losing livestock to all four carnivore species. Herders reported that depredation was the most common event affecting livestock, compared with natural disasters or disease, and represented a total loss of 3.6% of the livestock population during the previous year. Most (53%) depredation losses were attributed to lynx, while snow leopards were held responsible for only 7.8% of depredation losses. The reported impact of snow leopards on herding activities was relatively small and the majority of both householders and herders expressed positive attitudes towards them and supported measures for their protection. Households and herders held negative attitudes towards lynx, wolves and bears, however, most likely due to their perceived threat to livestock and humans. Understanding community perceptions of threats posed by wildlife is vital for gaining community support for, and engagement in, conflict mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative conservation tools are greatly needed to reduce livelihood losses and wildlife declines resulting from human-carnivore conflict. Spatial risk modeling is an emerging method for assessing the spatial patterns of predator-prey interactions, with applications for mitigating carnivore attacks on livestock. Large carnivores that ambush prey attack and kill over small areas, requiring models at fine spatial grains to predict livestock depredation hot spots. To detect the best resolution for predicting where carnivores access livestock, we examined the spatial attributes associated with livestock killed by tigers in Kanha Tiger Reserve, India, using risk models generated at 20, 100, and 200-m spatial grains. We analyzed land-use, human presence, and vegetation structure variables at 138 kill sites and 439 random sites to identify key landscape attributes where livestock were vulnerable to tigers. Land-use and human presence variables contributed strongly to predation risk models, with most variables showing high relative importance (≥0.85) at all spatial grains. The risk of a tiger killing livestock increased near dense forests and near the boundary of the park core zone where human presence is restricted. Risk was nonlinearly related to human infrastructure and open vegetation, with the greatest risk occurring 1.2 km from roads, 1.1 km from villages, and 8.0 km from scrubland. Kill sites were characterized by denser, patchier, and more complex vegetation with lower visibility than random sites. Risk maps revealed high-risk hot spots inside of the core zone boundary and in several patches in the human-dominated buffer zone. Validation against known kills revealed predictive accuracy for only the 20 m model, the resolution best representing the kill stage of hunting for large carnivores that ambush prey, like the tiger. Results demonstrate that risk models developed at fine spatial grains can offer accurate guidance on landscape attributes livestock should avoid to minimize human-carnivore conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tanzania’s Ruaha landscape, centred around Ruaha National Park (RNP), is an international priority area for large carnivores, supporting >10% of the world’s lions ( Panthera leo ) and globally significant populations of leopards ( Panthera pardus ), spotted hyaenas ( Crocuta crocuta ) and other carnivores. However, Ruaha’s carnivore populations cause intense conflict with local people, mainly due to livestock depredation, and are exposed to alarming rates of retaliatory killing, especially on village land adjacent to RNP. Depredation risk is likely to be influenced by both habitat features and livestock husbandry, but the specific environmental risk factors, and relative importance of habitat and husbandry, have never been assessed in this landscape. Here, we assessed which ecogeographic variables (EGVs) were associated with depredation risk for grazing livestock on village land, and generated a predictive map of large carnivore predation risk, based on species distribution modelling algorithms (SDMs). Secondly, we investigated the relative influence of husbandry and EGVs on depredation risk of enclosed stock, based on a generalized linear model. Grazing livestock predation risk was higher closer to rivers, and in areas of lower elevation and low percentage of tree cover, with 41% of the area mapped as high-risk. For enclosed stock, predation risk was mostly influenced by low percentage of tree cover and increased rainfall, with no discernible influence of current husbandry, which suggests that traditional husbandry was insufficient to outweigh the innate predation risks associated with high-risk landscape areas. Adopting new husbandry methods, such as specialised guarding dogs and fortified livestock enclosures, could be valuable for reducing depredation and carnivore killing in the Ruaha landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the understanding of human-carnivore conflicts is fundamental for the effective management of interventions. However, earlier research has largely focused on conflicts caused by top carnivores, and there is a general lack of knowledge about the drivers behind conflicts caused by smaller carnivores. Here, we investigated the characteristics and spatial patterns of perceived predators that caused losses of poultry. We used a structured interview of 481 households across seven villages outside Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Most households kept poultry and livestock, and 48.4% of all households perceived to have lost poultry to predators, but it was unrelated to perceived livestock depredation. On average, predators killed almost one-third of the poultry kept by each household, which is equivalent to an average annual economic loss of US $14.5 ± 18.6, or 10.4% of the cash income. Economic dependency did not influence the likelihood of perceiving depredation. The most parsimonious linear mixed-effects model showed that the probability of claiming losses to predators increased with increasing flock sizes and distance to the nearest protected area. We discuss our findings in relation to the current interest in rural poultry production shown by conservation programmes in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent development in Global Positioning System (GPS) techniques has started a new era in predation studies. Estimates of kill rates based on animal movements and GPS relocation clusters have proven to be valid in several obligatory carnivores. The main focus has been to obtain accurate mean predation estimates for the management of wildlife populations. We present a model to estimate individual kill rates of moose calves by adult female brown bears in Sweden, based on spatiotemporal clustering of 30,889 bear GPS relocations and 71 moose calves verified killed during 714 field investigations in 2004-2006. In this virtually single-predator single large prey system, the omnivorous brown bear is an efficient predator on moose calves up to 4 weeks of age. The top model set only included models with cluster radii of 30 m or 50 m, indicating very high kill-site fidelity. The best model included a cluster radius of 30 m and number of periods of bear activity at the kill site as a single covariate. The mean estimated individual kill rate of 7.6 ± 0.71 ( n = 18, ${\bar {x}}$ ± SE) moose calves per calving season is comparable to the estimate of 6.8 from a previous study of radio-tracked moose in our study area, though at a lower moose/bear ratio. The mean annual kill rates varied from 6.1 to 9.4 calves per bear. The estimated individual kill rates ranged from 2 to 15 calves per season, indicating a large individual variation in hunting skills and possibly effort. Predation and livestock depredation represent a core conflict between humans and carnivores in rural Scandinavia. Accurate predation estimates represent an important step in quantifying costs of carnivores and reducing human-carnivore conflicts. Our technique may be applied in the exploration of predation mechanisms and predator-prey interactions, and contribute to the old and global debate of problem individuals in livestock depredation. © 2012 The Wildlife Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging commercial farmers in Namibia represent a new category of farmer that has entered the freehold farming sector since Namibia's independence in 1990. Several assessments of agricultural training needs have been carried out with these farmers but the issue of human–carnivore conflict has not yet been addressed. This study investigated one of the key components driving human–carnivore conflict, namely the attitudes of these farmers towards carnivores and how this affects the level of conflict and carnivore removal. We observed that the attitudes of these farmers are similar to farmers elsewhere. In general, farmers reported high levels of human–carnivore conflict. Many farmers perceived that they had a carnivore problem when sighting a carnivore or its tracks, even in the absence of verified carnivore depredation. Such sightings were a powerful incentive to prompt farmers to want to take action by removing carnivores, often believed to be the only way to resolve human–carnivore conflict. Nonetheless, our study showed that farmers who understood that carnivores play an ecological role had a more favourable attitude and were less likely to want all carnivores removed. We found that negative attitudes towards carnivores and loss of livestock, especially of small stock, predicted actual levels of human–carnivore conflict. Goat losses additionally predicted actual carnivore removals. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to the activities of support structures for emerging commercial farmers in Namibia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studies of how proactive measures to reduce livestock depredation by carnivores affect human tolerance toward carnivores are extremely rare. Nevertheless, substantial amounts of money are spent each year on proactive measures to facilitate large carnivore conservation. The objective of this study was to assess how subsidies for proactive measures to reduce sheep losses to wolves are associated with public attitudes toward wolves. The respondents were 445 people living inside wolf territories in Sweden. Our data set is unique because we combine wolf territory level information regarding proactive subsidies and wolf attacks on dogs and sheep with geographical information of the respondents. Consequently, the respondents can be assigned to a specific wolf territory. The number of wolf attacks on sheep and dogs in the respective territories as well as the number of years that the wolf territory had existed did not affect human attitudes toward wolves. Subsidies for proactive measures to reduce wolf predation on sheep significantly increased positive attitudes toward wolf presence on the local scale. The magnitude of the effect of subsidies for proactive measures was comparable to the effect of other variables well known to affect human attitudes toward wolves such as age or education. Our data show that subsidies not only made the already positive more positive, but also made people with negative attitudes to wolf presence locally, less negative. Our conclusion is, therefore, that subsidies for proactive measures are an effective tool when working with "the human dimension" of conservation biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]