Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict

Effective management of biological resources is contingent upon stakeholder compliance with rules. With respect to disease management, partial compliance can undermine attempts to control diseases within human and wildlife populations. Estimating non-compliance is notoriously problematic as rule-bre...

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Main Authors:	Cross, Paul, St. John, Freya A. V., Khan, Saira, Petroczi, Andrea
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2013
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3547042/

id	pubmed-3547042
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-35470422013-01-22 Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict Cross, Paul St. John, Freya A. V. Khan, Saira Petroczi, Andrea Research Article Effective management of biological resources is contingent upon stakeholder compliance with rules. With respect to disease management, partial compliance can undermine attempts to control diseases within human and wildlife populations. Estimating non-compliance is notoriously problematic as rule-breakers may be disinclined to admit to transgressions. However, reliable estimates of rule-breaking are critical to policy design. The European badger (Meles meles) is considered an important vector in the transmission and maintenance of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle herds. Land managers in high bTB prevalence areas of the UK can cull badgers under license. However, badgers are also known to be killed illegally. The extent of illegal badger killing is currently unknown. Herein we report on the application of three innovative techniques (Randomized Response Technique (RRT); projective questioning (PQ); brief implicit association test (BIAT)) for investigating illegal badger killing by livestock farmers across Wales. RRT estimated that 10.4% of farmers killed badgers in the 12 months preceding the study. Projective questioning responses and implicit associations relate to farmers' badger killing behavior reported via RRT. Studies evaluating the efficacy of mammal vector culling and vaccination programs should incorporate estimates of non-compliance. Mitigating the conflict concerning badgers as a vector of bTB requires cross-disciplinary scientific research, departure from deep-rooted positions, and the political will to implement evidence-based management. Public Library of Science 2013-01-16 /pmc/articles/PMC3547042/ /pubmed/23341973 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053681 Text en © 2013 Cross et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Cross, Paul St. John, Freya A. V. Khan, Saira Petroczi, Andrea
spellingShingle	Cross, Paul St. John, Freya A. V. Khan, Saira Petroczi, Andrea Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict
author_facet	Cross, Paul St. John, Freya A. V. Khan, Saira Petroczi, Andrea
author_sort	Cross, Paul
title	Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict
title_short	Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict
title_full	Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict
title_fullStr	Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict
title_full_unstemmed	Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict
title_sort	innovative techniques for estimating illegal activities in a human-wildlife-management conflict
description	Effective management of biological resources is contingent upon stakeholder compliance with rules. With respect to disease management, partial compliance can undermine attempts to control diseases within human and wildlife populations. Estimating non-compliance is notoriously problematic as rule-breakers may be disinclined to admit to transgressions. However, reliable estimates of rule-breaking are critical to policy design. The European badger (Meles meles) is considered an important vector in the transmission and maintenance of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle herds. Land managers in high bTB prevalence areas of the UK can cull badgers under license. However, badgers are also known to be killed illegally. The extent of illegal badger killing is currently unknown. Herein we report on the application of three innovative techniques (Randomized Response Technique (RRT); projective questioning (PQ); brief implicit association test (BIAT)) for investigating illegal badger killing by livestock farmers across Wales. RRT estimated that 10.4% of farmers killed badgers in the 12 months preceding the study. Projective questioning responses and implicit associations relate to farmers' badger killing behavior reported via RRT. Studies evaluating the efficacy of mammal vector culling and vaccination programs should incorporate estimates of non-compliance. Mitigating the conflict concerning badgers as a vector of bTB requires cross-disciplinary scientific research, departure from deep-rooted positions, and the political will to implement evidence-based management.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2013
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3547042/
_version_	1611947658198384640

Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict

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