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Research article2015Peer reviewed

Game Meat Consumption Feeds Urban Support of Traditional Use of Natural Resources

Ljung, Per; Riley, Shawn James; Ericsson, Göran

Abstract

Continuous urbanization and associated political influences of urbanites on rural activities stress a need for understanding urban attitudes toward use of natural resources. Our objective was to compare urban and rural residents' attitudes toward hunting, a culturally important rural activity that also is a key wildlife management technique throughout the world to control wildlife populations. Our mail survey (n=6,818) revealed fewer nonhunters in the urban region of Stockholm (48%) expressed positive attitudes toward hunting than nonhunters in the predominantly rural northern Sweden (70%). Path analyses indicated that experiences with hunting or hunters, and especially consumption of game meat (Stockholm beta=0.25; northern Sweden beta=0.26), were associated with positive attitudes. Our results imply that finding ways to increase the distribution of game meat and associated social interactions to urban nonhunters will help maintain or increase support for hunting and enhance wildlife management.

Keywords

attitude; venison; hunting; nonhunter; wildlife management; resource utilization; public support; experience; urbanization; utilitarian

Published in

Society and Natural Resources
2015, Volume: 28, number: 6, pages: 657-669