Plain Language Summary: How can we increase human tolerance for urban wildlife?

By Elizabeth Pienaar, Mahi Puri, Kristina Johannsen, and Kaitlin Goode.

Read the full paper here.

Across the world, rapid urbanization threatens wildlife conservation. In our recent study we tackled a pressing issue: how can we enhance human tolerance for wildlife to foster wildlife conservation in urban landscapes? To answer this question, in 2022 we surveyed 1,006 residents of metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Atlanta is one of the fastest-growing metropolises in the United States and accounts for nearly half of all reported human-wildlife interactions in the state of Georgia. An array of different wildlife species live in Atlanta, including bats, bobcats, chipmunks, coyotes, deer, foxes, hawks, hummingbirds, opossums, owls, rabbits, raccoons, snakes, squirrels, and turtles.

Our investigation revealed that people vary in their tolerance for different urban wildlife, but metropolitan Atlanta residents tended to be intolerant of bobcats, coyotes, opossums, and snakes. People’s tolerance for urban wildlife hinged on their attitudes and emotions towards wildlife, beliefs about how humans should interact with wildlife, and previous conflicts with wildlife. Positive attitudes and emotions towards wildlife were particularly important drivers of people’s willingness to tolerate and coexist with urban wildlife. People who believed that they could mitigate conflicts with wildlife were also more tolerant of urban wildlife.

Our study underscores the importance of designing communication and outreach strategies to reinforce positive attitudes and emotions towards wildlife, debunk misconceptions about wildlife, and emphasize how people can manage conflicts with urban wildlife. As cities continue to expand, increasing people’s tolerance for wildlife is critical to ensuring coexistence between people and wildlife in urban spaces.