Survey of Attitudes of Human Local Communities of Conservation Areas of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province Toward Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)

A human-leopard conflict (HLC) is said to be any type of interaction that results in a mutually harmful effect on wildlife and humans. In recent decades, the scope and intensity of the HLC have increased due to the growth of the human population, changes in land use patterns, inefficient nature protection measures, and manipulation of nature. The study of habitats is considered vital to know their current situation and to think of solutions to solve emerging HLCs. Also, investigating the attitude of human local communities toward carnivores in the habitat where these HLCs is necessary for the management and protection of these species. Therefore, identifying the habitat needs of this valuable species is one of the essential needs of managers. Determining the distribution status of wildlife species and the status of their occupied habitats is important in managing wildlife and habitats. Social factors such as the attitude of human local communities are considered one of the most important factors affecting the HLC. To reach an effective management decision to reduce HLC, we investigated the factors affecting the attitude of human local communities toward this species in the conservation areas of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. In this research, to investigate the attitude of human local communities, we used a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions. According to the nature of the work, we selected 256 questionnaires related to the people who had the closest population center to the interviewed site. We interviewed the people who had the most knowledge and information about the local wildlife. The obtained results showed that the most damage to the property of human local communities is the attack on sheep and then domestic goats. The main reason can probably be due to the lack of main prey, as well as the entry of livestock into the range of the leopard's habitat in the slopes of protected areas or free areas. The results showed that knowledge of local communities about the leopard was effective in the positive attitude and interest in its presence, and the fear of the leopard did not cause a negative attitude and lack of interest in it. However, due to the increase of HLCs in recent years in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces, economic losses may increase the retaliatory measures by the human local communities and endanger the survival of this species.