Living with expanding mesocarnivores: different perspectives on the Egyptian mongoose in central Spain

Land abandonment together with the development of stronger conservation policies have favored the expansion of some wildlife species across Europe. This has led to increasing human-wildlife interactions, which are often conflictive, potentially harming both people livelihood and wildlife conservation. A paradigmatic example of conflicts over increasing wildlife species occurs when carnivores are involved. Assessing the human dimension of carnivore expansion is challenging if coexistence between human and carnivore species is sought. To date most studies on this topic have focused on large carnivores, whereas the expansion of mesocarnivores has received much less attention in the literature. Here, we explored the case of the Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumnon) in central Spain, its north-eastern range edge. This is the only mongoose species naturally occurring in Europe; in particular, it is distributed throughout most Portugal and south-western Spain, and their populations are expanding to the north-east of Spain. The mongoose preys on small-game species, which often leads to complaints from hunters about its presence. We assessed hunters and non-hunters views on the expansion of the Egyptian mongoose through online questionnaires. Our aims included: 1) assessing participants’ attitudes towards the natural expansion of the species; 2) analyzing their perception on the potential benefits and negative impacts of the occurrence of the mongoose; 3) evaluating potential conflicts between hunters and non-hunters regarding mongoose perceived impacts; 4) studying participants’ preferences over different potential management scenarios of mongoose expansion; 5) assessing attitudes towards different management tools to either favor mongoose expansion, or to halt it or, at least, to slow it down. Our results revealed that nearly all (>90%) hunters were against mongoose expansion. When we asked them about different potential management actions to stop mongoose expansion, mo