784 C. Hacker et al.


Few studies have examined the attitudes of pastoralists in Central Asia despite overlap of people with carnivores, including the threatened snow leopard Panthera uncia (Green & Zhimbiev, 1997; Suryawanshi et al., 2014). The snow leopard is categorized as Vulnerable on the


IUCNRed List (McCarthy et al., 2017).The species influences surrounding ecosystems through predation onwild ungulates and competition with sympatric carnivores (Li et al., 2014). Reduced wild prey populations combined with higher abun- dance of domestic animals leads to livestock predation by snow leopards (Schaller et al., 1988). Depredation events are costly to herders, and foster negative attitudes towards snow leopards and motivate calls for their elimination. Although there have been previous studies of attitudes towards snow leopards in China (Xu et al., 2008;Li et al., 2014, 2015; Alexander et al., 2015), findings cannot be generalized across regions (Alexander et al., 2015).Additionally, repeated assess- ments are needed to examine temporal changes, particularly on the Tibetan Plateauwhere rapid societal and environmen- tal changes are occurring (Bauer, 2015). We sought to identify variables influencing the attitudes


of herders towards snow leopards and their conservation. Associations between herding practices, animal loss and demographics were explored to understand the most im- portant factors influencing attitudes. We hypothesized that negative attitudes would be associated with greater live- stock loss and fewer years of formal education, whereas positive attitudes would be associated with fewer losses, more years of formal education, livestock insurance and Tibetan beliefs. We further predicted that herders would consider depredation the most threatening risk to livestock and that herders using predator proof corrals would report fewer losses.


Study area


Interviews were conducted in Suojia Village, Zhiduo County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China (Fig. 1). Of the 38,793 km2 of Zhiduo County (excluding Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve) 22,395 km2 overlaps with Sanjiangyuan National Park (Dai et al., 2019). The 152,000 km2 Sanjiangyuan National Park is the largest stretch of continuous snow leopard habitat in China (Li et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2016). The area has alpine meadow vegetation with limestone massifs and mountain ranges of ,5,500 m altitude (Schaller et al., 1988). The climate is


windy and dry with temperatures from −20 °C in January to 8 °C in July (Mallon, 2004). Interview sites were at a mean altitude of 4,429 m (range 4,109–4,670 m).


Methods


Questionnaire development Preliminary interviews were conducted with five herders, to identify any problems with


FIG. 1 Interview locations in Suojia Village, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China.


clarity (Hemson et al., 2009). The revised questionnaire contained statements regarding attitudes towards snow leo- pards, importance of snow leopards to religion, and per- ceived wildlife abundance, ranked on a Likert type scale (Likert, 1932), followed by questions regarding animal own- ership and management, livestock loss to snow leopards, knowledge of retaliatory killing, threats to livestock, and demographics (Supplementary Material 1). A 5-year recol- lection period was used to avoid recall bias (Bernard, 2013). Questions regarding retaliatory killing were worded to reduce social desirability bias (Fisher, 1993). The ques- tionnaire was limited to one page to avoid interviewee fatigue and disinterest (de Vaus, 2002).


Data collection Herders were interviewed in July 2018. Interviews were verbal, to avoid any potential misunder- standings stemming from illiteracy, and lasted c. 15 minutes. Local guides served as translators. The content, objectives and anonymity were explained to the potential interview subjects, and interviewees were told they could halt the interview at any time. The snowball sampling strategy was used to maximize sample size and engender participant trust (Goodman, 1961; Sadler et al., 2010).


Data analysis Likert scale scores for negatively worded attitude statements were reversed to match the Likert scale scoring of positively worded attitude statements. For example, a 1 became a 7,a 2 became a 6, and so on. Reported scores from each herder were summed and di- vided by the total number of interviews to calculate the percentage of herders who had positive, neutral, or nega- tive attitudes towards a specific statement. The Likert type


Oryx, 2021, 55(5), 783–790 © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319001315


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