A Survey of the Attitudes of Local Communities of Mazandaran Province towards Brown Bear (Ursus arctos)

The Survey of attitudes of local communities towards carnivores in the natural habitats where these species interact with humans is essential for the management and conservation of these species. In this study, we designed a questionnaire form and 230 people were interviewed to find out the attitude of local communities towards the presence of the brown bear in the Mazandaran province. The independent variables of the analyses which were considered are age, education, bear attacks to humans and on human capital, bear fear, knowledge of local people about bear's role in nature, traditional beliefs of local people and acceptance (1) or non-acceptance (0) of the bear by locals in the habitat. Finally, by using binary logistic regression statistical methods, the attitude of local communities regarding acceptance or rejection of this species was analyzed. The results showed that among the studied variables, those people who are highly knowledgeable, those who are afraid of species and those who have a traditional belief about the species agree with the presence of bears in nature. The results study showed that the knowledge of the local communities about the bear has a positive effect on their attitude and interest in the presence of the bear, and fear of the bear did not cause a negative attitude and a lack of interest in the presence of the bear. But given the increasing conflict in recent years in the province of Mazandaran, economic losses may increase retaliation by local people and jeopardize the survival of the bear.