2024 article

Political identity as a driver of hunter responses to chronic wasting disease in a post-COVID world

Lerose, C. S., Peterson, M. N., Larson, L. R., Levine, J. F., Boggess, M., Watkins, C., … Howard, B. (2024, November 8). HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE.

By: C. Lerose n, M. Peterson n, L. Larson n, J. Levine n, M. Boggess*, C. Watkins*, J. Fuller*, J. Shaw*, C. Kreh*, B. Howard*

author keywords: Coronavirus - COVID-19; management preferences; political identity; risk perception; wildlife; wildlife disease; wildlife health
Source: Web Of Science
Added: November 18, 2024

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has emerged as a wildlife management challenge. Human dimensions of CWD management are critical because hunters impact disease transmission and influence management viability. We expanded recent research by evaluating how political identity contributed to perceived risk, concern, intended behavior, and management preferences for CWD among deer hunters in North Carolina and South Carolina (n = 1430) during 2022. Political identity was among the most influential predictors of responses to CWD. Compared to moderates and liberals, conservative hunters reported lower risk perceptions, lower concern about risk to themselves and people that they know, greater likelihoods of hunting in an area with detections, and lower acceptances of management actions to limit the spread of CWD. To garner support for management, CWD communications may need to emphasize the necessity of agency intervention or the disease's low risk toward human health, depending on the political identity of the audience receiving the information.