Attitudes, emotions, and acceptance of wolf management in Illinois

To help the Illinois Department of Natural Resources develop a comprehensive wolf management strategy, a mail survey was conducted of non-hunters (n = 1,145) and hunters (n = 1,489). Results supported three bivariate hypotheses. Compared to urbanites, respondents who grew up in rural areas were more emotional toward wolves, held more negative attitudes toward wolves, and were less likely to accept wolf management. Hunters had stronger emotions and more negative attitudes toward wolves and were less accepting of wolf management than were non-hunters. People who lived in an area where a wolf had not been found were more emotional toward wolves, held more negative attitudes toward this species, and were less accepting of wolf management compared to those who lived in an area where a wolf had been seen. Results also supported the predicted three-way interaction effects for each of the three dependent variables, highlighting the complexities of managing wolves.