Wicked “wild dogs”: Australian public awareness of and attitudes towards dingoes and dingo management

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lily M. van Eeden ◽  
Mathew S. Crowther ◽  
Chris R. Dickman ◽  
Thomas M. Newsome

Public opposition has shaped management of wild animals in Australia, but public interest in dingo control has been minimal. We hypothesised that this is due to lack of awareness of dingo management practices, in part because using the term “wild dogs” to describe management renders “dingoes” invisible, framing the issue as one of control of introduced pests rather than control of an iconic Australian animal. We distributed an online questionnaire survey to the Australian public ( N = 811) to measure how the public perceived dingoes and their management, how these views compared with other animals managed as pests in Australia, and whether the term “wild dogs” has shaped views and knowledge of dingo management. Most respondents (84.6%) considered dingoes to be native to Australia and there was low approval of lethal control methods, except when justification was provided (e.g., to protect livestock or endangered native species). Only 19.1% were aware that “wild dog” management included dingoes, and attitudes towards “wild dogs” were more negative than those towards dingoes. If public awareness about dingo management increases, pressure from the public may result and shape future management actions, including restricting the use of lethal control practices like poison baiting on public lands. As such, public attitudes should be incorporated into decision-making, and appropriate communication strategies need to be employed to prevent backlash.

Author(s):  
Mohammad Hamed Patmal ◽  
Habiburrahman Shiran

This research investigates the factors that potentially affect public attitudes and their adoption of renewable energy technologies for electrical energy production in Afghanistan. The study is carried out with a survey from Kabul and its neighboring provinces including Logar, Maidan Wardak, Nangarhar, Ghazni, Parwan & Kapisa provinces. We used a random sampling process to collect data using a web-based questionnaire. The survey was well designed to highlight conveniently the public understanding, willingness, and attitudes toward adopting renewable energy technologies (RETs). The outcome of the survey is then evaluated to discover the most potential factor affecting public acceptance of RETs. The results declared that the educational level, expertise in RETs, and income of respondents are positively related, while the age of respondents is negatively related to the public willingness on the use and investment in RETs. The majority of respondents have used one type of RETs, however, 23 % of respondents have not used any type of RETs. Study shows that the RETs use and access to grid electricity are reversely related, where the access is lower, the RETs use is higher and vice versa. Most of the respondents were not well informed and most disagreed with the government policies on RETs, therefore, public awareness programs on RETs and government policies are recommended. The majority of respondents were willing to invest in RETs, therefore, the government should commit itself and support private sectors to invest in RETs and take part in its development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-339
Author(s):  
DS Machado ◽  
AFF Bragança ◽  
IC Travnik ◽  
AP Rossi ◽  
AC Sant'Anna

A need exists for research that contributes to estimating the risk factors associated with the management of outdoor cats (Felis silvestris catus) and addresses the lack of such surveys in Brazil and other Latin American countries. With this in mind we aimed to: i) identify the causal factors affecting the practice of owners allowing their cats to roam freely and; ii) evaluate potential welfare risks associated with the allowance of outdoor access, based on cat owners' reports. An online questionnaire consisting of 25 questions was answered by 8,485 Brazilian cat owners and logistic regression models used to obtain odds ratios. A number of the factors significantly related to owners allowing their cats to have outdoor access were unneutered cats, the manner in which the cat was acquired, residence in rural areas, the number of cats owned, the presence of other pets in the house, younger owner age, owner declaration of not being responsible for the cat, owner perception about the role of the cat in the house, owner knowledge about cats' potential for transmitting diseases, a lack of knowledge about zoonoses, and a lack of knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis. The practice of allowing outdoor access was associated with significantly higher odds of owners reporting several welfare issues, such as frequent flea contamination, sporotrichosis, going missing, poisoning, mistreatment, and accidents. We conclude that the practice of allowing outdoor access, as reported by 37.1% of our respondents, may result in risks to feline welfare. Increasing public awareness through campaigns that highlight the risks associated with outdoor access would improve feline management practices and welfare.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Cohn

Public-private partnerships (P3s) encompass a broad range of commercial and financial activity involving state engagement of for-profit firms to either provide or partially finance publicly prescribed services through long-term contracts. Following Marx’s analysis of commodities, P3s can also be understood as a fetish - objects considered valuable because of the imaginary social relations that they imply as opposed to their usefulness. In this case, it refers to the transformation of instruments for meeting public obligations into some form or another of private property. It must be acknowledged that states have long employed P3 arrangements to provide instruments needed to meet their obligations. However, the scope of activities which governments are willing to consider open to P3s has grown to unprecedented levels. So eager are states to do deals and so prominent are such deals in their financial rhetoric, that P3s can now also be considered a fetish in the second sense of the word : Some thing or some activity that people have an irrational desire to have or to do. Most political-economy studies of P3s have focused on this rhetoric. They are attempting to understand the trend by relating this fetish to the political ideological agenda of neoliberalism. While valuable, this concentration has caused an equally critical question to be neglected. Why would investors want to take part in P3s ? The paper argues that to understand the P3 fetish we have to consider the dilemma facing pension fund managers during the late 1990s. An imbalance in supply and demand for high quality bonds and dividend paying stocks emerged due to declining public debts, management practices at large corporations, and an increasingly aging population. P3s provided a solution to this dilemma. The evaporation of this economic context and a growing public awareness of the costs of these deals likely mean that P3s will lose their status as a fetish in both senses of the word.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Budić ◽  
Marko Galjak ◽  
Vojin Rakić

AbstractThe paper represents an empirical study of public attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. Moral bioenhancement implies the improvement of moral dispositions, i.e. an increase in the moral value of the actions or character of a moral agent. The views of bioethicists and scientists on this topic are present in the ongoing debate, but not the view of the public in general. In order to bridge the gap between the philosophical debate and the view of the public, we have examined attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. The participants were people from Serbia older than 15, who voluntarily completed an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a brief introduction to moral bioenhancement, seven general questions, 25 statements about participants’ attitudes towards moral bioenhancement, and five examples of moral dilemmas. The questionnaire also included questions which were used to reveal their preference of either deontology, or utilitarianism. Participants were asked to what degree they agree or disagree with the statements. The results showed that the means used to achieve moral enhancement, the level of education, and preference for deontology or utilitarianism do have an impact on public attitudes. Using exploratory factor analysis, we isolated four factors that appear to drive the respondents' attitudes toward moral bioenhancement, we named: general—closeness, fear of change, security, and voluntariness. Each factor in relationship to other variables offers new insights that can inform policies and give us a deeper understanding of the public attitudes. We argue that looking into different facets of attitudes towards moral bioenhancement improves the debate, and expands it.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 1514-1518
Author(s):  
M. Arifki Zainaro ◽  
Fara Millinia Suwares

ABSTRAK Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) adalah jenis penyakit baru yang sebelumnya belum teridentifikasi pada manusia. Dan semakin banyaknya lonjaka angka positif virus corona di Indonesia, sepatutnya menaikkan pemahaman penduduk terhadap bahaya pandemi ini. Rencana dari kegiatan yang dilakukan ini adalah agar masyarakat biasa tau apa itu pengertian dari COVID-19 dan meningkatkan kesadaran akan pentingnya sikap masyarakat terhadap orang-orang yang Terinfeksi Virus COVID-19 baik itu dirinya, keluarga ataupun tetangganya, dan tujuan dari kegiatan khusus ini adalah untuk dapat mengatasi sikap masyarakat terhadap orang-orang yang Terinfeksi Virus COVID-19 secara mandiri dengan memberikan edukasi/informasi tentang COVID-19 setelah dilakukan kegiatan penyuluhan. Sebelum dilakukan kegiatan edukasi diketahui pengetahuan masyarakat hanya sekitar 60%. Kemudian  dilakukan  edukasi singkat  menggunakan aplikasi Zoom dan Power Point terdapat  peningkatan 80% kemampuan dan pengetahuan tentang COVID-19 dan bagaimana cara menyikapinya jika ada seseorang yang terinfeksi COVID-19 pada masyarakat kelurahan Negeri Jaya kecamatan Negeri Besar kabupaten Way Kanan. Kata Kunci : COVID-19, Edukasi, Meningkatkan Kesadaran, Sikap Masyarakat.  ABSTRACT Coronavirus Sickness 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel form of disease that has never been seen in humans before. Furthermore, the rising number of corona virus positives in Indonesia should raise public awareness of the pandemic's hazards. The goal of this activity is for ordinary people to understand what COVID-19 means and to raise awareness of the importance of public attitudes toward people infected with the COVID-19 virus, whether they are themselves, their families, or their neighbors. The goal of this special activity is to be able to overcome public attitudes toward people infected with the COVID-19 virus independent of the COVID-19 virus. Only approximately 60% of the public was aware of the instructional initiatives before they were implemented. Then, using the Zoom and PowerPoint apps, a brief education was performed in the Negeri Jaya sub-district, Negeri Besar sub-district, and Way Kanan district, resulting in an 80 percent improvement in ability and knowledge of COVID-19 and how to respond if someone was infected with COVID-19. Keywords: COVID-19, Education, Public Awareness, and Community Attitudes


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Guan ◽  
Ke Meng ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Lan Xue

Raising public awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a critical prerequisite for their implementation. However, little is known about attitude formation among the public toward SDGs at the national level. We explored this topic in China, a country that has emerged as a leading world economy with strong transformational imperatives to work toward sustainable development. Following Chaiken’s heuristic–systematic model and using data from an online survey with 4128 valid respondents, this study investigated the factors that affect public support for SDGs and explains how individuals form supportive attitudes. Our empirical evidence showed that in China, first, public support is mainly shaped by demographic attributes (gender, age, and educational attainment), value predispositions (e.g., altruistic values and anthropocentric worldviews), and the level of SDG-relevant knowledge. Second, an interaction effect exists between value predispositions and knowledge among the public concerning support for SDGs. Third, the Chinese public views the implementation of SDGs as a part of development policy rather than environmental policy. This study provides empirical findings on the factors that account for public attitudes toward SDGs, outlining some useful implications for designing policy tools that would bolster SDG action.


Author(s):  
Jonas Gomes da Silva

It complements Silva (2020b) research, which showed that among 108 well-evaluated countries, the top benchmark nations against Covid-19 are Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand. For example, on April 16, 2021 around 3,011,574 lives were officially lost by Covid-19, while Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand reported respectively only 11, 35, and 97 fatal cases (WORLDOMETERS, 2021). So, this article main aim is to investigate the Vietnam performance and the management practices used to save lives against Covid19. The research uses an online questionnaire, is descriptive with documentary and bibliographic approaches to identify management practices, including Non Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) adopted against a pandemic. Also the Fatality Total Index (SILVA, 2020b p. 563) was used to compare Vietnam's performance with 43 semifinalist countries. Some results are: 1) 200 NPIs were identified across the world against coronavirus; 2) Among the 44 countries, Vietnam showed the second best performance, after Taiwan; 3) among 107 respondents living in Vietnam, only 5.61% don´t believe that cultural practices are decisive for the low rate of Covid-19 death, while most (94.39%) believe in that. From the group that believe, the most decisive cultural practices were: wear a mask, wash hands, not shake hands, not hug in public and few religious assembly; 4) for 106 respondents living in Vietnam, the ten main policy measures adopted by the National Government that saved lives against the virus are: international travel control, public information campaigns, schools closures, public event cancellations, integration with mass media, restriction on internal movement, effective public-private collaboration, increase the medical and personal equipment capacity, public transport reduction and combat fake news. At the final, ten golden lessons are provided, from 340 policies, measures, programs, projects, innovative products/services identified, with the majority led by the Public Sector (73.5%), followed by Corporations (8.5%), Others (6.5%), Start ups (6.2%), and Universities (5.3%).


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica R. Wignall ◽  
Karin Alton ◽  
Francis L.W. Ratnieks

Growing nectar- and pollen-rich flowering plant varieties in domestic gardens and other greenspace is an important pro-environmental behaviour that supports pollinating insects. Wildlife gardening is popular in the UK; however, public attitudes and behaviour relating to planting for pollinators are currently not well understood. We investigated these through questionnaires and interviews with customers in five garden centres in Sussex, southeast England, a relevant and useful consumer group representing horticulturally-engaged members of the public. Garden centre customers had strongly positive attitudes and were motivated to plant for bees and other pollinators: most (77%) grew pollinator-friendly varieties, while 64% would be more likely to buy a plant with a pollinator-friendly logo. Personal motivation to support pollinators was linked to a recent increase in personal and public awareness of their declines through (often negativistic) information from mass media sources. Practical implications of these findings in relation to the horticultural retail industry are discussed.


Author(s):  
Andrew Jon Schneller ◽  
Greta Lee Binzen ◽  
Colin Cameron ◽  
Samuel Taggart Vogel ◽  
Isaac Bardin

This qualitative case study research investigated public perceptions and preferences regarding management options for addressing recreational impacts to the High Peaks Wilderness Complex (HPWC) in New York State’s six-million-acre Adirondack Park. The Park is the largest in the contiguous United States, attracting local and international visitors from Philadelphia, Montreal, Boston, and New York City, major cities within 350 miles of the HPWC. The Park saw 12.4 million visitors in 2018, resulting in crowding, trail erosion, clandestine trails/campsites, water pollution, and plant/wildlife impacts. Data was gathered from 1,200 individuals via an online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews with NGOs, community influentials, and agency representatives, and participant observation. Findings showed the public strongly supported passive management options such as increased funding for education, trail reconstruction, enhanced management of the HPWC, and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) promotion of alternatives to the most popular wilderness trails during busy months. The public was split in their support of direct management techniques such as temporary trail closures, limiting the number of hikers, and mandatory permits for hikers/parking. NGOs expressed a diversity of preferences for direct wilderness management, but widely supported enhanced education, trail improvements, and funding increases for management and the hiring of more rangers. The results of this research provide insights for improving management practices that facilitate sustainable recreation while also protecting and restoring federal and state designated wilderness. This manuscript culminates in a suite of management implications based on our research findings, including filling all vacancies within the Adirondack Park Agency Board with professionally and culturally diverse individuals, including women, Tribal representatives, minority communities, environmental attorneys, natural scientists, and regional planners. Funding should be allocated for the hiring of additional rangers, Summit Stewards, and trail crews, for enhanced trail maintenance and hiker education efforts. We also recommend implementing the Wildland Monitoring Program in order to better understand trail carrying capacity and ecological limits. Limiting the number of hikers/vehicles through a permit system is but one solution if efforts to heighten ranger presence, education, and improve trails all fail to address resource degradation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 279 ◽  
pp. 01010
Author(s):  
Miroslav Sůra

The responsible body pushing a case of a building project often gets into the situation when they have to defend and carry the project through the public. Lack of defects in a project, such as concerning green and sustainable building objectives, has positive influence on public awareness when the project is to be implemented. The building projects in question were not viewed and accepted equally by each party as different defects were pointed out by different subjects – the projects did not naturally resonate with everyone’s views. In the article we present a course of action while informing the public and other subjects involved in a building project. The purpose was to eliminate defects apt to induce disagreements with the building project, to eliminate such adverse consequences as delays and extra costs, caused by some individuals’ lack of information, or sometimes by others parties’ disturbing or harmful plans, either based on the law or not. Some figures are available that document the time change in public attitude as the information process controlled by municipality progressed and thus modified the public attitudes.


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