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Hunters’ preferences for engaging in control programs of introduced Eastern cottontails in Italy: a factorial survey approach

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Abstract

In Europe, invasive alien mammals are often controlled by voluntary hunters. However, no research investigated if control operations could be entirely performed by volunteers, nor how to maximize their recruitment. By using the Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) in Central Italy as a case study, we carried out a factorial survey over a sample of hunters (n = 134), exploring which attributes influenced their hypothetical participation to control programs for cottontails. Hunters were more willing to engage in control schemes if these included shooting sessions, not trapping. Moreover, they would have been more prone to control cottontails if they had received evidence of cottontail impacts over native wildlife or local crops. The geographical scale of the management plan and its goals and required efforts did not have any effect over the evaluation of management scenarios. As many European control schemes for invasive alien mammals are carried out in contexts where shooting is unfeasible, like urbanized neighborhoods, our findings show that agencies cannot entirely rely on volunteers and they should complement their limitations with full-time staff. Moreover, if wildlife agencies want to recruit volunteers, they should provide adequate information about the environmental and social impacts of invasive alien mammals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127, Pisa, Italy

    Jacopo Cerri

  2. Scuola di Agraria, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144, Florence, Italy

    Giovanni Batisti

  3. Regione Toscana, Corso Gramsci 110, 51100, Pistoia, Italy

    Marco Ferretti

  4. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Madonna del Piano 6, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Marco Zaccaroni

  5. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123, Torino, Italy

    Sandro Bertolino

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  1. Jacopo Cerri
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  2. Giovanni Batisti
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Correspondence to Jacopo Cerri.

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Cerri, J., Batisti, G., Ferretti, M. et al. Hunters’ preferences for engaging in control programs of introduced Eastern cottontails in Italy: a factorial survey approach. Eur J Wildl Res 64, 21 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-018-1181-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-018-1181-2

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