Addressing the challenge of wildlife conservation in urban landscapes by increasing human tolerance for wildlife

Abstract

Urbanization is a key driver of global environmental change and is adversely impacting wildlife populations. Human tolerance for wildlife is critical to wildlife conservation in urban areas. Using metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, United States, as a case study, we investigated human tolerance for a range of different wildlife species. Almost half of the human–wildlife interactions that are reported to the state wildlife agency originate from metropolitan Atlanta, which is one of the fastest growing metropolises in the United States. We surveyed a representative sample of 1006 residents of metropolitan Atlanta in 2022. We found heterogeneity in respondents' tolerance for various species, although most respondents were intolerant of bobcats, coyotes, opossums and snakes. Respondents' tolerance for different species largely depended on their attitudes and emotions towards species, and their basic beliefs pertaining to wildlife and the relationships between humans and wildlife. We found some evidence that tolerance also depended on people's prior interactions with wildlife, their beliefs that they can mitigate conflicts with wildlife and their demographic characteristics. Our results suggest that communication that improves urban residents' attitudes towards wildlife and/or reinforces positive emotions towards wildlife may increase wildlife tolerance in urban areas.