Study on social and cultural factors affecting vulnerability of local communities (Case Study on Wolf Attacks in Hamadan Province)

One of the most conflict species in Iran is the grey wolf (Canis lupus). Unfortunately conflict between grey wolf and local communities were increased in Hamden province. So that, recently, 60 incidents of wolf attacks on local communities, mostly children (70 %), and more than100 incidents of wolf attack on livestock were documented. One of the effective management for conflict mitigation is determining local communities' attitude and structure (Social, Cultural, etc.). Although, most mitigation studies investigated only the technical aspects of conflict reduction. In this research we studied an important factor that effect on vulnerability of local communities towards wolf attacks in Hamadan province. To do this, we designed 400 questionnaire and interview with local communities in counties of Hamadan province. Using binary logistic regression we analyzed these data. Our result showed that most important factors on vulnerability of local communities included: Number of guarding dogs, herd size, releasing of domestic carcass near rural area, waste management and translocation of wolves to remote area (wild zoo or protected areas). As well as the number of guarding dogs, risk of wolf attacks to local communities would be decreased. Local communities believing, releasing of domestic carcass near the rural area lead to attractive wolves, would meet less vulnerability. Empirical results indicated that local communities managing their waste, risk of wolf attacks to will be reduce. Larger herd size lead to high encounter rates with wolves. People that agree with translocation of wolves from areas of high livestock density to remote area will be less vulnerable. Management implications to mitigate conflicts between wolf and local communities were discussed.