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Research on human–wildlife interactions has largely focused on the magnitude of wildlife‐caused damage, and the patterns and correlates of human attitudes and behaviors. We assessed the role of five pathways through which various correlates potentially influence human responses toward wild animals, namely, value orientation, social interactions (i.e. social cohesion and support), dependence on resources such as agriculture and livestock, risk perception and nature of interaction with the wild animal. We specifically evaluated their influence on people's responses toward two large carnivores, the snow leopard Panthera uncia and the wolf Canis lupus in an agropastoral landscape in the Indian Trans‐Himalaya. We found that the nature of the interaction (location, impact and length of time since an encounter or depredation event), and risk perception (cognitive and affective evaluation of the threat posed by the animal) had a significant influence on attitudes and behaviors toward the snow leopard. For wolves, risk perception and social interactions (the relationship of people with local institutions and inter‐community dynamics) were significant. Our findings underscore the importance of interventions that reduce people's threat perceptions from carnivores, improve their connection with nature and strengthen the conservation capacity of local institutions especially in the context of wolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful resolution of human-wildlife conflicts requires the participation of local communities and other stakeholder groups in formulating management decisions. In the uplands of the United Kingdom, a controversial conservation issue concerns the relationship between the conservation of a legally protected raptor, the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus ) and the management of a gamebird, the Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus ). We used multicriteria analysis to evaluate the perspectives of two groups of stakeholders, grouse managers and raptor conservationists, and the acceptability to them of different management solutions to this conflict. Both groups quantified the relative importance of evaluation criteria and used these as a basis for comparing different upland and Hen Harrier management options. In relation to upland management, grouse managers placed more importance on economic criteria than did raptor conservationists, who valued natural-environment criteria more highly. Intensively managed grouse moors, involving the control of harrier numbers, were ranked most highly by grouse managers and managed nature reserves by raptor conservationists, but both groups also ranked legally managed grouse moors highly. When evaluating Hen Harrier management options, grouse managers considered time scale and cost the most important criteria, whereas raptor conservationists considered the effects on harrier populations to be most important. Harrier quota schemes were the management solution most favored by grouse managers, whereas raptor conservationists preferred allowing harriers to attain natural densities. Notably, however, one technique that has already been partly tested in the field—the use of diversionary feeding was scored highly by both groups and thus holds promise for some form of compromise. This exercise highlighted the value of these objective techniques for developing dialog and trust between stakeholder groups, and it highlighted the need to conduct further research to test the effectiveness of different management options. There was broad agreement that the workshop moved the prior positions of individual stakeholders and was a valuable tool in helping to resolve human-wildlife conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diet of red fox Vulpes vulpes was investigated through analysis of 340 scats collected during 1992-96 from moorland in south-west Scotland. Rodents, gamebirds, lagomorphs, carrion and insectivores were the most frequently occurring food types. Fox diet and prey abundancewere compared between heather dominant and grass dominant habitat types within the study area. Rodents were the most frequently occurringfood type in each habitat and occurred in 63% of scats overall. Rodents occurred more often in scats from grass dominant sites while gamebirds and lagomorphs were more frequent in scats from heather dominant sites. The occurrence of rodents in winter fox scats increased withrodent abundance. In contrast, the occurrence of gamebirds in winterfox scats was unrelated to gamebird abundance but negatively relatedto rodent abundance. It appeared that foxes switched to gamebirds inyears, or habitats, where rodents were uncommon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about owl song. We made sonagrams of the territorial calls of 50 male Tawny Owls Strix aluco from three different areas. Six temporal and four frequency measures of the calls were recorded from the sonagrams. The measures of the calls were then subjected to analysis to try to separate between individual owls and between owls from different areas. We also looked for similarities between calls of neighbouring owls and for any effect of habitat on owl hoots. Individual owls were separated on the basis of their hoots with a high degree of success (98.6% overall), and there were significant differences between areas. Differences were found between calls in woodland and farmland habitats, but these differences were not in the direction expected to increase sound transmission. Calls of neighbouring owls did not resemble each other more than calls from owls that were not in vocal contact, implying that if calls are learned by Tawny Owls, they are learned before dispersal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) shot in the UK has declined by 50% during the 20th century This decline has coincided with reductions in the area of suitable habitat and recoveries in the populations of some avian predators. Here we use long-term records of shooting bags and a large-scale manipulation of raptor density to disentangle the effects of habitat loss and raptor predation on grouse populations. The numbers of grouse harvested on the Eskdale half of Langholm Moor in southern Scotland declined significantly during 1913-1990 and grouse bags from the whole moor from 1950 to 1990 exhibited an almost identical but non-significant trend. Hen harriers (Circus cyaneus) and peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) were absent or bred at low densities on this moor throughout this period but heather-dominant vegetation declined by 48% between 1948 and 1988. Harrier and peregrine breeding numbers on Langholm Moor increased to high levels following protection in 1990 whilst grouse density and grouse bags declined year after year until shooting was abandoned in 1998. The prediction of a peak in grouse bags on Langholm Moor in 1996 based on the patterns of bags during 1950-1990 was supported by the observed peaks in 1997 on two nearby moors with few raptors which formerly cycled in synchrony with Langholm Moor. This study demonstrates that, whilst long-term declines in grouse bags were most probably due to habitat loss, high levels of raptor predation subsequently limited the grouse population and suppressed a cycle. This study thus offers support to theoretical models which predict that generalist predators may suppress cycles in prey populations.