Estimating willingness to pay of local communities in Fars province for protection of Caracal (Caracal caracal, Schreber, 1776)

The aim of this research is to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of local communities in Fars province for the protection of Caracal(Caracal caracal, Schreber, 1776), rare species. In this study, 198 local people in Fars province were near the Bakhtegan wildlife refuge and Bahram-e-Gur protect are as a one habitat of Caracal, chosen via the simple random sampling and interviews face to face. A questionnaire comprising items about the people’s demographics as well as their awareness and willingness to pay for protection of Caracal. Subsequently, analysis of gathering data was carried out with applying a Logit model under maximum likelihood procedure by using SPSS (version 21) and Eviews (8) Software. Result showed that, 57.6 percent of the local people had positive willingness to pay for protection of Caracal. The average payment of WTP for the monthly and annual protection value of Caracal was estimated 50747.93 RLs (1.66 $) and 608975.14 RLs (19.97 $) respectively. Furthermore, the result showed that the literacy level, membership in environmental organization, species recognize and bid have statistical significant effects on willingness to pay for Caracal rare species protection.