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What explains touristsrsquo support for snow leopardconservation in the Annapurna Conservation AreaNepal

Jonathan H Hanson Maurice Schutgens amp Nabin Baral

To cite this article Jonathan H Hanson Maurice Schutgens amp Nabin Baral (2018) What explainstouristsrsquo support for snow leopard conservation in the Annapurna Conservation Area NepalHuman Dimensions of Wildlife DOI 1010801087120920191534293

To link to this article httpsdoiorg1010801087120920191534293

Published online 19 Oct 2018

Submit your article to this journal

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What explains touristsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationin the Annapurna Conservation Area NepalJonathan H Hansona Maurice Schutgensb and Nabin Baralc

aDepartment of Geography University of Cambridge Cambridge UK bSpace for Giants Nanyuki KenyacSchool of Environmental and Forest Sciences University of Washington Seattle WA USA

ABSTRACTWildlife tourism is increasingly important for the conservation ofthreatened species such as snow leopards However what touristsknow or value about snow leopards and to what extent they supportthe conservation of this species has received limited empirical atten-tion This paper investigates tourist knowledge about snow leopardsbeliefs and values toward the species and support for its conserva-tion in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal Survey data werecollected from 406 foreign tourists between March and May 2014Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among respon-dents there was widespread support for their conservationKnowledge about snow leopards was best explained by educationlevel and environmental organization membership Improved knowl-edge about the species and a variety of intrinsic conservation valueswere found to increase tourist support for snow leopard conserva-tion These results provide important insights to help tailor tourisminitiatives to support the conservation of snow leopards

KEYWORDSFlagship species Himalayasknowledge-attitude-practicemodel Panthera unciaprotected areamanagement tourism

Introduction

Can wildlife tourism be a positive force to conserve the threatened snow leopard(Panthera uncia) in the Himalayas Defined as lsquolsquothe experiencing of wildlife by touristsrsquorsquo(Reynolds amp Braithwaite 2001 p 31) a major rationale for wildlife tourism is that it willnot only generate funds for conserving nature but also promote increased knowledge ofand positive attitudes toward this goal among both local residents and tourists (Balmfordet al 2009 Buckley 2010 Newsome Dowling amp Moore 2005 Shackley 1996) Amongresidents the mechanism for these positive linkages is often revenue-sharing that isintended to also contribute to local sustainable development (Martin et al 2011) whilemitigating conflicts between communities and conservation (Kala amp Maikhuri 2011) Thishas been widely noted in Nepal though not without some limitations such as increasedinequality (Budhathoki 2004 Daconto amp Sherpa 2010 Nepal 2002) Among tourists apositive relationship between tourism activities and conservation knowledge and ethos hasalso been described such as with marine conservation in Australia (Zeppel 2008) and theGalapagos (Powell amp Ham 2008) Other variables positively correlated with increasedsupport for conservation including increased education (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) andmembership in an environmental organization (Fielding McDonald amp Louis 2008)

CONTACT Jonathan H Hanson jonnyhanson61hotmailcom Jubilee Community Benefit Society Larne UKColor versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at wwwtandfonlinecomuhdw

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFEhttpsdoiorg1010801087120920191534293

copy 2018 Taylor amp Francis Group LLC

Wildlife tourism has often focused on charismatic megafauna or flagship species (Walpoleamp Leader-Williams 2002) capitalizing on their perceived value among tourists rather thanlocal communities (Dickman Macdonald amp Macdonald 2011) However despite the per-ceived value of flagship species among tourists research on their conservation has tended toaddress how locals understand perceive and support wildlife conservation (Sekhar 2003)rather than tourist responses (Ballantyne Packer amp Hughes 2009) In addition even thoughtourists are a major stakeholder group for conservation exploring their knowledge of flagshipspecies has also been relatively limited (Ballantyne Packer amp Falk 2011) This informationgap is particularly the case for more elusive species such as the snow leopard (Hussain 2000Namgail et al 2016 Schutgens Hanson Baral amp Ale 2018)

The snow leopard is a large wild felid inhabiting mountainous regions of 12 Centraland South Asian nations (Jackson Mishra McCarthy amp Ale 2010) Recently re-categor-ized as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Naturersquos Red List(McCarthy Mallon Jackson Zahler amp McCarthy 2017) the population is estimatedbetween 7367 and 7884 individuals worldwide (McCarthy et al 2017) This speciesfaces numerous anthropogenic threats including illegal trade in wildlife climate changeinfrastructure development and competition with local communities for space prey andlivestock (Jackson Mallon Sharma Suryawanshi amp Mishra 2013) Given the largeterritories inhabited by snow leopards its future persistence must ensure coexistencewith humans and their activities both within and outside protected areas (Johanssonet al 2016) Although a number of studies have documented local residentsrsquo attitudestoward the species (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia Redpath Suryawanshi amp Mishra 2016Suryawanshi Bhatia Bhatnagar Redpath amp Mishra 2014) few have examined touristsrsquoperceptions

Given the elusive nature of the species snow leopard tourism has not developed to theextent that tourism has with other large cat species such as tigers in India (RastogiHickey Badola amp Hussain 2012) Yet a number of tourism initiatives have emerged thatconnect tourists directly to snow leopard conservation These have included homestays inIndia (Anand Chandan amp Singh 2012) handicraft production in Mongolia (Mishra et al2003) community-based ungulate trophy hunting programs in Tajikistan (Rosen et al2012) and trekking opportunities in Pakistan linked to livestock insurance schemes(Hussain 2000) More recently snow leopards in Indiarsquos Hemis National Park havebeen habituated to viewing by tourists in winter (Namgail et al 2016) but this has notbeen attempted in Nepal Various high-level snow leopard conservation strategies alsoinclude wildlife tourism promotion and encourage and include it in national regionaland local action plans (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) Nepalrsquos Snow LeopardConservation Action Plan (SLCAP) for instance calls for the promotion of tourism insnow leopard habitats to ameliorate damage done to livelihoods by the species and toengage communities in its management (DNPWC 2017) However none of these projectsor policies have assessed how tourists themselves understand and relate to snow leopardsand their conservation

Theoretical framework

This paper draws upon the knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP) model to derive its theo-retical framework as it quantifies the interactions between these aspects of human

2 J H HANSON ET AL

perception and behavior (Rennie 1995) KAP has been applied practically in fields asdiverse as public health (Roelens Verstraelen Van Egmond amp Temmerman 2006) greenpurchasing (Mostafa 2007) and environmental conservation (Newhouse 1990) Here themodel explores whether touristsrsquo support for snow leopard conservation is dependent ontheir knowledge about snow leopards beliefs and attitudes toward this species and statedvalues toward the species There are a number of dimensions to these interactions within aKAP model

First there is a strong link between behavioral intention and attitudes (Miller 2017)For tourists specifically actual or intended support for conservation can be influenced byattitudes toward conservation (Powell amp Ham 2008) Second people require knowledge toform opinions including about wildlife (Zeppel 2008) Third attitudes or specificopinions toward a species can be complex and influenced by both tangible (eg agegender) and intangible (eg perceptions beliefs) factors (Kansky amp Knight 2014)Knowledge attitudes and practices therefore interact in the KAP model (Rennie 1995)

When the benefits of taking action appear to outweigh the costs people are more likelyto take such actions In turn these behaviors as with attitudes are shaped by a variety ofbeliefs and values Within the context of wildlife conservation use valuation can include aspeciesrsquo recreational value to tourists such as via trophy hunting or photographic safaristhat can incorporate both economic and non-economic values (Loomis amp White 1996) Aspecies valuation can also include non-use values such as existence bequest option andaltruistic values (Richardson amp Loomis 2009) Existence value refers to the intrinsic valueof a species irrespective of whether it is utilized by humans whereas bequest value refersto the significance of a species existing for the enjoyment of future generations of humansOption value involves retaining the possibility of future human uses of the species andaltruistic value infers a strong intrinsic responsibility for conserving biodiversity

Studies have often explored one aspect of the KAP framework (Miller 2017) Howeverthis paper explores the relative strengths of competing theoretical propositions in oneempirical model The study therefore sought to answer the following research questionswhile considering their wider implications What are tourist beliefs about endangeredspecies What values do they hold regarding snow leopard conservation What knowledgedo tourists have about snow leopards and what factors best explain this knowledge Whatsupport do tourists have for snow leopard conservation and what factors best explain thissupport

Methods

Study area

The Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) covers 7628 km2 of Himalayan territory incentral Nepal with elevations ranging from 1000 m to over 8000 m (Figure 1) The ACA ishome to a wide array of biodiversity including over 1000 plant species 100 mammalspecies and nearly 500 bird species (Bhuju Shakya Basnet amp Shrestha 2007) This area isalso considered prime habitat for the snow leopard (Ale Shrestha amp Jackson 2014)

The National Trust for Nature Conservation is a Nepali non-governmental organiza-tion (NGO) that manages the ACA in partnership with local communities In thesecommunities the 2011 census recorded a human population of over 85000 individuals

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 3

(Government of Nepal 2012) whose main sources of income are derived from tourismand agro-pastoralist activities in the local area (Mishra et al 2003) The ACA is also apopular trekking destination and records more than 100000 mostly international touristsper year with wildlife tourism becoming more popular among these visitors (Baral ampDhungana 2014) Tourism revenues thus contribute both a large percentage of the ACArsquosannual operating budget and a substantial proportion of the regionrsquos economy

Questionnaire administration

After institutional ethical approval and a scoping visit in the Fall of 2013 a questionnairewritten in simple English was administered to 406 international visitors between Marchand May 2014 The Annapurna Circuit was traveled from Jomsom in the west to Chamein the east of the ACA (Figure 1) As most visitors travel the circuit in a counter-clockwisedirection new visitors to interview were encountered on a daily basis Random clustersampling of hotels and of their guests was employed to ensure a representative composi-tion of visitors in the sample In total 33 hotels were surveyed after securing permissionfrom the hotel owners The administration of questionnaires usually took place in theevenings when visitors were relaxing in the lobby and other common areas of theiraccommodation

Twenty questionnaires printed on A3 laminated paper were used for reducing paperwastage and weight All visitors were given a short briefing on the nature and objectives of

Figure 1 Map of study area showing hotel locations and dates sampled

4 J H HANSON ET AL

the research project and their verbal consent to participate was requested Participantswere provided with markers to complete the questionnaire which took 23 minutes onaverage (SD = 95 range = 12ndash55 minutes n = 58) while the survey team remained nearbyto provide any necessary clarification

Completed questionnaires were photographed and cataloged prior to data entry on anExcel spreadsheet Once completed the questionnaires were wiped clean with a cloth andmethylated spirits and then prepared for re-administration to the next prospectiveparticipant In total 572 international visitors were approached and 406 agreed toparticipate yielding a 71 response rate Of those who provided a reason for notparticipating over 50 stated a lack of interest with language difficulties (15) andfatigue (11) being the other main reasons

Variable measurement

Snow leopard knowledge indexRespondents were shown pictures of eight large feline species (lion tiger jaguar snowleopard mountain lion common leopard clouded leopard Eurasian lynx) and asked toidentify the snow leopard They were also asked seven more questions related tovarious aspects of snow leopard ecology (a) have you personally observed snowleopards in nature zoos or zoological parks (b) have you ever read a magazine ornewspaper article or watched a television program about snow leopards (c) beforetoday were you aware that snow leopards are found in the Annapurna ConservationArea (d) are snow leopards also found in Africa (e) is the snow leopard considered acharismatic species (f) are snow leopards easily observed in their natural habitats and(g) which category best describes the conservation status of snow leopards in theworld The index had eight response items that served as the assessment domain forvisitors Correctly answered questions received a score of 1 whereas incorrect answerswere scored as 0 The scores were summed across all eight questions to create asummative knowledge index Lower scores indicated a low level of knowledge aboutthe snow leopard whereas higher scores indicated a high level of knowledgeTheoretically the index value varied from 0 to 8 points and these extreme valueswere found in the empirical data

Support for snow leopard conservationRespondents were asked to read a brief summary of the local Snow Leopard ConservationAction Plan and then indicate how important they felt it was to implement this to protectsnow leopards in the ACA Their responses were recorded on a five-point scale rangingfrom ldquonot at all importantrdquo coded as 1 to ldquoextremely importantrdquo coded as 5 In thedescriptive analysis it was found that the lowest category had only two observations so itwas merged with the next category to create a four point ordinal scale Higher scores onthe scale indicated more support for snow leopard conservation

Values of snow leopard conservation and beliefs about endangered speciesFive snow leopard conservation value statements were developed with five-pointresponses ranging from ldquonot at all importantrdquo to ldquoextremely importantrdquo (Table 1)

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 5

Similarly seven endangered belief statements were developed These also used a five-pointresponse scale ranging from ldquostrongly disagreerdquo to ldquostrongly agreerdquo (Table 2)

Socio-demographic characteristicsSocio-demographic variables included gender age level of education participation inlabor force annual financial income (in US dollars) and environmental organizationmembership

Data analysis

In line with the theoretical framework a multiple linear regression model and anordinal regression model were constructed to predict which variables were related toknowledge about snow leopards and support for snow leopard conservation (Field2005 Tabachnick amp Fidell 2007) The plot of the knowledge index was symmetricaland appeared to be normally distributed This speculation was supported by theShapiro Wilk W test which failed to reject the null hypothesis that the data were

Table 1 Visitorsrsquo snow leopard conservation values

Value statements

Not at allimportant

()

Slightlyimportant

()

Moderatelyimportant

()

Veryimportant

()

Extremelyimportant

() Mean SD

I believe that snow leopards have a rightto exist

1 1 5 32 61 452 068

I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist inAnnapurna even if nobody ever seesone

2 3 14 37 44 418 092

I enjoy knowing future generations willget pleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

2 3 15 37 43 417 091

I enjoy knowing other people getpleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

3 6 17 38 37 400 102

I may want to see snow leopards in thefuture in Annapurna

8 10 18 23 42 382 128

Table 2 Visitorsrsquo beliefs about endangered species

Belief statements

StronglyDisagree

()Disagree

()Neutral()

Agree()

StronglyAgree () Mean SD

Endangered species should be preserved tomaintain a healthy ecosystem

1 1 2 21 74 465 072

Economic growth should get priority overendangered species preservation

25 44 20 7 4 221 103

Citizens should bear the responsibility ofprotecting endangered species

1 8 15 47 29 394 094

Many plants and animals become rare due tocauses beyond the control of humans

6 32 23 26 13 308 116

Endangered species have as much right ashumans to exist

3 8 13 28 48 409 110

There are more important environmental concernsthan endangered species preservation

4 16 44 30 6 318 091

The economic value of endangered species playsan important role in their preservation

8 20 26 33 14 324 116

6 J H HANSON ET AL

normally distributed (W = 099 z = 079 p = 216 n = 403) An ordinal least squareestimator was used to build a multiple linear regression model by taking the knowledgeindex as a response variable and the following social-demographic variables as thepredictor variables gender age education participation in labor force income andenvironmental membership

As the second main response variable support for snow leopard conservation wasmeasured on an ordinal scale this precluded the use of the ordinary least square regres-sion An ordinal logistic regression model was therefore constructed by taking support forsnow leopard conservation as a response variable and the three sets of predictor variablesas the theoretical framework inferred knowledge about snow leopards snow leopardconservation values and beliefs about endangered species Socio-demographic informa-tion was added

One of the major assumptions underlying ordinal logistic regression is that the coeffi-cients between each pair of outcome categories are the same Thus the proportional oddsassumption implies that there is the same slope but different intercepts for outcomecategories within a single model Both the likelihood ratio chi-square test and Brant testwere used for testing the null hypothesis that there was no difference in the coefficientsbetween models The p-values were greater than 05 providing evidence that the propor-tional odds assumption was met

Results

Respondent information

Of the sample 48 were male and 42 were female The average age was 322 (SD = 111)years with a range from 18 to 73 For education 23 were educated to high school levelor below 13 to associate degree level 29 to bachelorrsquos degree level 28 to masterrsquosdegree level and 8 to doctoral degree level A minority 41 were active in the laborforce meaning that they were employed full-time part-time or self-employed whereas theremainder (59) were retirees homemakers or students who were not active in the laborforce More than half (55) had an annual household income of less than $40000 28had between $40000 and $80000 and 16 had more than $80000 from all sources beforetaxes Membership in any environmental conservation or wildlife organizations was heldby 17 of respondents When asked how well-informed visitors felt about flora and faunain ACA respondentsrsquo average rating score was 384 (SD = 217) on a 10 point scalesuggesting that they felt poorly informed

Values in relation to snow leopard conservation

There was broad general support for snow leopard conservation (Table 1) with existenceand bequest values having higher means than altruistic and option values The right ofsnow leopards to exist for instance was the most strongly supported statement whereasthe option of seeing snow leopards in the Annapurna area in the future was leastsupported Overall however the proportions of respondents who considered all of thesnow leopard conservation statements to be very or extremely important varied between65 and 93

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 7

Beliefs about endangered species

Respondents had favorable beliefs about endangered species conservation (Table 2) Therewas also a spread of support for use and non-use valuation The importance of conservingendangered species to maintain ecosystem functions was the highest scoring responsewith 95 of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement

Knowledge about snow leopards

The mean of the snow leopard knowledge index was 38 (SD = 17) on the scale of 0 to 8points Most respondents (81) had not personally observed snow leopards in naturezoos or zoological parks Two-thirds (66) of respondents however were able topositively identify the snow leopard from the accompanying photograph identificationsheet The other cat species most commonly misidentified as a snow leopard was theclouded leopard (12) followed by the Eurasian lynx (8) puma (7) jaguar (5) tiger(1) common leopard (1) and lion (lt1) A small number of respondents (1) statedthey did know which photograph represented the snow leopard and chose not to answerthe question

Of those who answered the question about whether they had ever read a magazine orbook article or watched a television program about snow leopards 42 had not 37had and 21 were unsure Three fifths (61) of those surveyed had been aware that thespecies was present in ACA although most (82) believed that snow leopards were noteasily observed in their natural habitat compared with those who thought they were (2)or were unsure (16) Half (50) of those who completed the questionnaire were unsurewhether the snow leopard was found in Africa This was similar to the proportion (45)who felt that it was not found there and considerably more than the percentage whothought it was there (5) Similarly 47 felt that the snow leopard was considered acharismatic species 42 were unsure and 11 thought it was not The final question inthe section asked which IUCN threat category best described the status of snow leopardsin the wild More than half of respondents (51) chose critically endangered whereas therest were split between the endangered (30) vulnerable (2) and donrsquot know cate-gories (17)

The demographic variables detailed above were used for assessing which best explainedknowledge about snow leopards Membership in an environmental organization had thestrongest statistically significant relationship in the multiple regression model followed byeducation (Table 3) Figure 2 shows how these varied The remaining variables were notstatistically significant in the multivariate model although during bivariate analysis thoseactive in the labor force were found to be more supportive of implementing a SLCAP inACA (χ23 = 833 p = 040 n = 382)

Support for snow leopard conservation

Of the 392 tourists who answered the question regarding the importance of implementinga SLCAP in ACA lt1 believed it to be not at all important 3 to be a little important21 to be somewhat important 54 to be very important and 21 to be extremelyimportant The mean score was 392 (SD = 077) on the 5-point scale When analyzed as a

8 J H HANSON ET AL

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

perception and behavior (Rennie 1995) KAP has been applied practically in fields asdiverse as public health (Roelens Verstraelen Van Egmond amp Temmerman 2006) greenpurchasing (Mostafa 2007) and environmental conservation (Newhouse 1990) Here themodel explores whether touristsrsquo support for snow leopard conservation is dependent ontheir knowledge about snow leopards beliefs and attitudes toward this species and statedvalues toward the species There are a number of dimensions to these interactions within aKAP model

First there is a strong link between behavioral intention and attitudes (Miller 2017)For tourists specifically actual or intended support for conservation can be influenced byattitudes toward conservation (Powell amp Ham 2008) Second people require knowledge toform opinions including about wildlife (Zeppel 2008) Third attitudes or specificopinions toward a species can be complex and influenced by both tangible (eg agegender) and intangible (eg perceptions beliefs) factors (Kansky amp Knight 2014)Knowledge attitudes and practices therefore interact in the KAP model (Rennie 1995)

When the benefits of taking action appear to outweigh the costs people are more likelyto take such actions In turn these behaviors as with attitudes are shaped by a variety ofbeliefs and values Within the context of wildlife conservation use valuation can include aspeciesrsquo recreational value to tourists such as via trophy hunting or photographic safaristhat can incorporate both economic and non-economic values (Loomis amp White 1996) Aspecies valuation can also include non-use values such as existence bequest option andaltruistic values (Richardson amp Loomis 2009) Existence value refers to the intrinsic valueof a species irrespective of whether it is utilized by humans whereas bequest value refersto the significance of a species existing for the enjoyment of future generations of humansOption value involves retaining the possibility of future human uses of the species andaltruistic value infers a strong intrinsic responsibility for conserving biodiversity

Studies have often explored one aspect of the KAP framework (Miller 2017) Howeverthis paper explores the relative strengths of competing theoretical propositions in oneempirical model The study therefore sought to answer the following research questionswhile considering their wider implications What are tourist beliefs about endangeredspecies What values do they hold regarding snow leopard conservation What knowledgedo tourists have about snow leopards and what factors best explain this knowledge Whatsupport do tourists have for snow leopard conservation and what factors best explain thissupport

Methods

Study area

The Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) covers 7628 km2 of Himalayan territory incentral Nepal with elevations ranging from 1000 m to over 8000 m (Figure 1) The ACA ishome to a wide array of biodiversity including over 1000 plant species 100 mammalspecies and nearly 500 bird species (Bhuju Shakya Basnet amp Shrestha 2007) This area isalso considered prime habitat for the snow leopard (Ale Shrestha amp Jackson 2014)

The National Trust for Nature Conservation is a Nepali non-governmental organiza-tion (NGO) that manages the ACA in partnership with local communities In thesecommunities the 2011 census recorded a human population of over 85000 individuals

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 3

(Government of Nepal 2012) whose main sources of income are derived from tourismand agro-pastoralist activities in the local area (Mishra et al 2003) The ACA is also apopular trekking destination and records more than 100000 mostly international touristsper year with wildlife tourism becoming more popular among these visitors (Baral ampDhungana 2014) Tourism revenues thus contribute both a large percentage of the ACArsquosannual operating budget and a substantial proportion of the regionrsquos economy

Questionnaire administration

After institutional ethical approval and a scoping visit in the Fall of 2013 a questionnairewritten in simple English was administered to 406 international visitors between Marchand May 2014 The Annapurna Circuit was traveled from Jomsom in the west to Chamein the east of the ACA (Figure 1) As most visitors travel the circuit in a counter-clockwisedirection new visitors to interview were encountered on a daily basis Random clustersampling of hotels and of their guests was employed to ensure a representative composi-tion of visitors in the sample In total 33 hotels were surveyed after securing permissionfrom the hotel owners The administration of questionnaires usually took place in theevenings when visitors were relaxing in the lobby and other common areas of theiraccommodation

Twenty questionnaires printed on A3 laminated paper were used for reducing paperwastage and weight All visitors were given a short briefing on the nature and objectives of

Figure 1 Map of study area showing hotel locations and dates sampled

4 J H HANSON ET AL

the research project and their verbal consent to participate was requested Participantswere provided with markers to complete the questionnaire which took 23 minutes onaverage (SD = 95 range = 12ndash55 minutes n = 58) while the survey team remained nearbyto provide any necessary clarification

Completed questionnaires were photographed and cataloged prior to data entry on anExcel spreadsheet Once completed the questionnaires were wiped clean with a cloth andmethylated spirits and then prepared for re-administration to the next prospectiveparticipant In total 572 international visitors were approached and 406 agreed toparticipate yielding a 71 response rate Of those who provided a reason for notparticipating over 50 stated a lack of interest with language difficulties (15) andfatigue (11) being the other main reasons

Variable measurement

Snow leopard knowledge indexRespondents were shown pictures of eight large feline species (lion tiger jaguar snowleopard mountain lion common leopard clouded leopard Eurasian lynx) and asked toidentify the snow leopard They were also asked seven more questions related tovarious aspects of snow leopard ecology (a) have you personally observed snowleopards in nature zoos or zoological parks (b) have you ever read a magazine ornewspaper article or watched a television program about snow leopards (c) beforetoday were you aware that snow leopards are found in the Annapurna ConservationArea (d) are snow leopards also found in Africa (e) is the snow leopard considered acharismatic species (f) are snow leopards easily observed in their natural habitats and(g) which category best describes the conservation status of snow leopards in theworld The index had eight response items that served as the assessment domain forvisitors Correctly answered questions received a score of 1 whereas incorrect answerswere scored as 0 The scores were summed across all eight questions to create asummative knowledge index Lower scores indicated a low level of knowledge aboutthe snow leopard whereas higher scores indicated a high level of knowledgeTheoretically the index value varied from 0 to 8 points and these extreme valueswere found in the empirical data

Support for snow leopard conservationRespondents were asked to read a brief summary of the local Snow Leopard ConservationAction Plan and then indicate how important they felt it was to implement this to protectsnow leopards in the ACA Their responses were recorded on a five-point scale rangingfrom ldquonot at all importantrdquo coded as 1 to ldquoextremely importantrdquo coded as 5 In thedescriptive analysis it was found that the lowest category had only two observations so itwas merged with the next category to create a four point ordinal scale Higher scores onthe scale indicated more support for snow leopard conservation

Values of snow leopard conservation and beliefs about endangered speciesFive snow leopard conservation value statements were developed with five-pointresponses ranging from ldquonot at all importantrdquo to ldquoextremely importantrdquo (Table 1)

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 5

Similarly seven endangered belief statements were developed These also used a five-pointresponse scale ranging from ldquostrongly disagreerdquo to ldquostrongly agreerdquo (Table 2)

Socio-demographic characteristicsSocio-demographic variables included gender age level of education participation inlabor force annual financial income (in US dollars) and environmental organizationmembership

Data analysis

In line with the theoretical framework a multiple linear regression model and anordinal regression model were constructed to predict which variables were related toknowledge about snow leopards and support for snow leopard conservation (Field2005 Tabachnick amp Fidell 2007) The plot of the knowledge index was symmetricaland appeared to be normally distributed This speculation was supported by theShapiro Wilk W test which failed to reject the null hypothesis that the data were

Table 1 Visitorsrsquo snow leopard conservation values

Value statements

Not at allimportant

()

Slightlyimportant

()

Moderatelyimportant

()

Veryimportant

()

Extremelyimportant

() Mean SD

I believe that snow leopards have a rightto exist

1 1 5 32 61 452 068

I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist inAnnapurna even if nobody ever seesone

2 3 14 37 44 418 092

I enjoy knowing future generations willget pleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

2 3 15 37 43 417 091

I enjoy knowing other people getpleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

3 6 17 38 37 400 102

I may want to see snow leopards in thefuture in Annapurna

8 10 18 23 42 382 128

Table 2 Visitorsrsquo beliefs about endangered species

Belief statements

StronglyDisagree

()Disagree

()Neutral()

Agree()

StronglyAgree () Mean SD

Endangered species should be preserved tomaintain a healthy ecosystem

1 1 2 21 74 465 072

Economic growth should get priority overendangered species preservation

25 44 20 7 4 221 103

Citizens should bear the responsibility ofprotecting endangered species

1 8 15 47 29 394 094

Many plants and animals become rare due tocauses beyond the control of humans

6 32 23 26 13 308 116

Endangered species have as much right ashumans to exist

3 8 13 28 48 409 110

There are more important environmental concernsthan endangered species preservation

4 16 44 30 6 318 091

The economic value of endangered species playsan important role in their preservation

8 20 26 33 14 324 116

6 J H HANSON ET AL

normally distributed (W = 099 z = 079 p = 216 n = 403) An ordinal least squareestimator was used to build a multiple linear regression model by taking the knowledgeindex as a response variable and the following social-demographic variables as thepredictor variables gender age education participation in labor force income andenvironmental membership

As the second main response variable support for snow leopard conservation wasmeasured on an ordinal scale this precluded the use of the ordinary least square regres-sion An ordinal logistic regression model was therefore constructed by taking support forsnow leopard conservation as a response variable and the three sets of predictor variablesas the theoretical framework inferred knowledge about snow leopards snow leopardconservation values and beliefs about endangered species Socio-demographic informa-tion was added

One of the major assumptions underlying ordinal logistic regression is that the coeffi-cients between each pair of outcome categories are the same Thus the proportional oddsassumption implies that there is the same slope but different intercepts for outcomecategories within a single model Both the likelihood ratio chi-square test and Brant testwere used for testing the null hypothesis that there was no difference in the coefficientsbetween models The p-values were greater than 05 providing evidence that the propor-tional odds assumption was met

Results

Respondent information

Of the sample 48 were male and 42 were female The average age was 322 (SD = 111)years with a range from 18 to 73 For education 23 were educated to high school levelor below 13 to associate degree level 29 to bachelorrsquos degree level 28 to masterrsquosdegree level and 8 to doctoral degree level A minority 41 were active in the laborforce meaning that they were employed full-time part-time or self-employed whereas theremainder (59) were retirees homemakers or students who were not active in the laborforce More than half (55) had an annual household income of less than $40000 28had between $40000 and $80000 and 16 had more than $80000 from all sources beforetaxes Membership in any environmental conservation or wildlife organizations was heldby 17 of respondents When asked how well-informed visitors felt about flora and faunain ACA respondentsrsquo average rating score was 384 (SD = 217) on a 10 point scalesuggesting that they felt poorly informed

Values in relation to snow leopard conservation

There was broad general support for snow leopard conservation (Table 1) with existenceand bequest values having higher means than altruistic and option values The right ofsnow leopards to exist for instance was the most strongly supported statement whereasthe option of seeing snow leopards in the Annapurna area in the future was leastsupported Overall however the proportions of respondents who considered all of thesnow leopard conservation statements to be very or extremely important varied between65 and 93

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 7

Beliefs about endangered species

Respondents had favorable beliefs about endangered species conservation (Table 2) Therewas also a spread of support for use and non-use valuation The importance of conservingendangered species to maintain ecosystem functions was the highest scoring responsewith 95 of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement

Knowledge about snow leopards

The mean of the snow leopard knowledge index was 38 (SD = 17) on the scale of 0 to 8points Most respondents (81) had not personally observed snow leopards in naturezoos or zoological parks Two-thirds (66) of respondents however were able topositively identify the snow leopard from the accompanying photograph identificationsheet The other cat species most commonly misidentified as a snow leopard was theclouded leopard (12) followed by the Eurasian lynx (8) puma (7) jaguar (5) tiger(1) common leopard (1) and lion (lt1) A small number of respondents (1) statedthey did know which photograph represented the snow leopard and chose not to answerthe question

Of those who answered the question about whether they had ever read a magazine orbook article or watched a television program about snow leopards 42 had not 37had and 21 were unsure Three fifths (61) of those surveyed had been aware that thespecies was present in ACA although most (82) believed that snow leopards were noteasily observed in their natural habitat compared with those who thought they were (2)or were unsure (16) Half (50) of those who completed the questionnaire were unsurewhether the snow leopard was found in Africa This was similar to the proportion (45)who felt that it was not found there and considerably more than the percentage whothought it was there (5) Similarly 47 felt that the snow leopard was considered acharismatic species 42 were unsure and 11 thought it was not The final question inthe section asked which IUCN threat category best described the status of snow leopardsin the wild More than half of respondents (51) chose critically endangered whereas therest were split between the endangered (30) vulnerable (2) and donrsquot know cate-gories (17)

The demographic variables detailed above were used for assessing which best explainedknowledge about snow leopards Membership in an environmental organization had thestrongest statistically significant relationship in the multiple regression model followed byeducation (Table 3) Figure 2 shows how these varied The remaining variables were notstatistically significant in the multivariate model although during bivariate analysis thoseactive in the labor force were found to be more supportive of implementing a SLCAP inACA (χ23 = 833 p = 040 n = 382)

Support for snow leopard conservation

Of the 392 tourists who answered the question regarding the importance of implementinga SLCAP in ACA lt1 believed it to be not at all important 3 to be a little important21 to be somewhat important 54 to be very important and 21 to be extremelyimportant The mean score was 392 (SD = 077) on the 5-point scale When analyzed as a

8 J H HANSON ET AL

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

(Government of Nepal 2012) whose main sources of income are derived from tourismand agro-pastoralist activities in the local area (Mishra et al 2003) The ACA is also apopular trekking destination and records more than 100000 mostly international touristsper year with wildlife tourism becoming more popular among these visitors (Baral ampDhungana 2014) Tourism revenues thus contribute both a large percentage of the ACArsquosannual operating budget and a substantial proportion of the regionrsquos economy

Questionnaire administration

After institutional ethical approval and a scoping visit in the Fall of 2013 a questionnairewritten in simple English was administered to 406 international visitors between Marchand May 2014 The Annapurna Circuit was traveled from Jomsom in the west to Chamein the east of the ACA (Figure 1) As most visitors travel the circuit in a counter-clockwisedirection new visitors to interview were encountered on a daily basis Random clustersampling of hotels and of their guests was employed to ensure a representative composi-tion of visitors in the sample In total 33 hotels were surveyed after securing permissionfrom the hotel owners The administration of questionnaires usually took place in theevenings when visitors were relaxing in the lobby and other common areas of theiraccommodation

Twenty questionnaires printed on A3 laminated paper were used for reducing paperwastage and weight All visitors were given a short briefing on the nature and objectives of

Figure 1 Map of study area showing hotel locations and dates sampled

4 J H HANSON ET AL

the research project and their verbal consent to participate was requested Participantswere provided with markers to complete the questionnaire which took 23 minutes onaverage (SD = 95 range = 12ndash55 minutes n = 58) while the survey team remained nearbyto provide any necessary clarification

Completed questionnaires were photographed and cataloged prior to data entry on anExcel spreadsheet Once completed the questionnaires were wiped clean with a cloth andmethylated spirits and then prepared for re-administration to the next prospectiveparticipant In total 572 international visitors were approached and 406 agreed toparticipate yielding a 71 response rate Of those who provided a reason for notparticipating over 50 stated a lack of interest with language difficulties (15) andfatigue (11) being the other main reasons

Variable measurement

Snow leopard knowledge indexRespondents were shown pictures of eight large feline species (lion tiger jaguar snowleopard mountain lion common leopard clouded leopard Eurasian lynx) and asked toidentify the snow leopard They were also asked seven more questions related tovarious aspects of snow leopard ecology (a) have you personally observed snowleopards in nature zoos or zoological parks (b) have you ever read a magazine ornewspaper article or watched a television program about snow leopards (c) beforetoday were you aware that snow leopards are found in the Annapurna ConservationArea (d) are snow leopards also found in Africa (e) is the snow leopard considered acharismatic species (f) are snow leopards easily observed in their natural habitats and(g) which category best describes the conservation status of snow leopards in theworld The index had eight response items that served as the assessment domain forvisitors Correctly answered questions received a score of 1 whereas incorrect answerswere scored as 0 The scores were summed across all eight questions to create asummative knowledge index Lower scores indicated a low level of knowledge aboutthe snow leopard whereas higher scores indicated a high level of knowledgeTheoretically the index value varied from 0 to 8 points and these extreme valueswere found in the empirical data

Support for snow leopard conservationRespondents were asked to read a brief summary of the local Snow Leopard ConservationAction Plan and then indicate how important they felt it was to implement this to protectsnow leopards in the ACA Their responses were recorded on a five-point scale rangingfrom ldquonot at all importantrdquo coded as 1 to ldquoextremely importantrdquo coded as 5 In thedescriptive analysis it was found that the lowest category had only two observations so itwas merged with the next category to create a four point ordinal scale Higher scores onthe scale indicated more support for snow leopard conservation

Values of snow leopard conservation and beliefs about endangered speciesFive snow leopard conservation value statements were developed with five-pointresponses ranging from ldquonot at all importantrdquo to ldquoextremely importantrdquo (Table 1)

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 5

Similarly seven endangered belief statements were developed These also used a five-pointresponse scale ranging from ldquostrongly disagreerdquo to ldquostrongly agreerdquo (Table 2)

Socio-demographic characteristicsSocio-demographic variables included gender age level of education participation inlabor force annual financial income (in US dollars) and environmental organizationmembership

Data analysis

In line with the theoretical framework a multiple linear regression model and anordinal regression model were constructed to predict which variables were related toknowledge about snow leopards and support for snow leopard conservation (Field2005 Tabachnick amp Fidell 2007) The plot of the knowledge index was symmetricaland appeared to be normally distributed This speculation was supported by theShapiro Wilk W test which failed to reject the null hypothesis that the data were

Table 1 Visitorsrsquo snow leopard conservation values

Value statements

Not at allimportant

()

Slightlyimportant

()

Moderatelyimportant

()

Veryimportant

()

Extremelyimportant

() Mean SD

I believe that snow leopards have a rightto exist

1 1 5 32 61 452 068

I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist inAnnapurna even if nobody ever seesone

2 3 14 37 44 418 092

I enjoy knowing future generations willget pleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

2 3 15 37 43 417 091

I enjoy knowing other people getpleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

3 6 17 38 37 400 102

I may want to see snow leopards in thefuture in Annapurna

8 10 18 23 42 382 128

Table 2 Visitorsrsquo beliefs about endangered species

Belief statements

StronglyDisagree

()Disagree

()Neutral()

Agree()

StronglyAgree () Mean SD

Endangered species should be preserved tomaintain a healthy ecosystem

1 1 2 21 74 465 072

Economic growth should get priority overendangered species preservation

25 44 20 7 4 221 103

Citizens should bear the responsibility ofprotecting endangered species

1 8 15 47 29 394 094

Many plants and animals become rare due tocauses beyond the control of humans

6 32 23 26 13 308 116

Endangered species have as much right ashumans to exist

3 8 13 28 48 409 110

There are more important environmental concernsthan endangered species preservation

4 16 44 30 6 318 091

The economic value of endangered species playsan important role in their preservation

8 20 26 33 14 324 116

6 J H HANSON ET AL

normally distributed (W = 099 z = 079 p = 216 n = 403) An ordinal least squareestimator was used to build a multiple linear regression model by taking the knowledgeindex as a response variable and the following social-demographic variables as thepredictor variables gender age education participation in labor force income andenvironmental membership

As the second main response variable support for snow leopard conservation wasmeasured on an ordinal scale this precluded the use of the ordinary least square regres-sion An ordinal logistic regression model was therefore constructed by taking support forsnow leopard conservation as a response variable and the three sets of predictor variablesas the theoretical framework inferred knowledge about snow leopards snow leopardconservation values and beliefs about endangered species Socio-demographic informa-tion was added

One of the major assumptions underlying ordinal logistic regression is that the coeffi-cients between each pair of outcome categories are the same Thus the proportional oddsassumption implies that there is the same slope but different intercepts for outcomecategories within a single model Both the likelihood ratio chi-square test and Brant testwere used for testing the null hypothesis that there was no difference in the coefficientsbetween models The p-values were greater than 05 providing evidence that the propor-tional odds assumption was met

Results

Respondent information

Of the sample 48 were male and 42 were female The average age was 322 (SD = 111)years with a range from 18 to 73 For education 23 were educated to high school levelor below 13 to associate degree level 29 to bachelorrsquos degree level 28 to masterrsquosdegree level and 8 to doctoral degree level A minority 41 were active in the laborforce meaning that they were employed full-time part-time or self-employed whereas theremainder (59) were retirees homemakers or students who were not active in the laborforce More than half (55) had an annual household income of less than $40000 28had between $40000 and $80000 and 16 had more than $80000 from all sources beforetaxes Membership in any environmental conservation or wildlife organizations was heldby 17 of respondents When asked how well-informed visitors felt about flora and faunain ACA respondentsrsquo average rating score was 384 (SD = 217) on a 10 point scalesuggesting that they felt poorly informed

Values in relation to snow leopard conservation

There was broad general support for snow leopard conservation (Table 1) with existenceand bequest values having higher means than altruistic and option values The right ofsnow leopards to exist for instance was the most strongly supported statement whereasthe option of seeing snow leopards in the Annapurna area in the future was leastsupported Overall however the proportions of respondents who considered all of thesnow leopard conservation statements to be very or extremely important varied between65 and 93

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 7

Beliefs about endangered species

Respondents had favorable beliefs about endangered species conservation (Table 2) Therewas also a spread of support for use and non-use valuation The importance of conservingendangered species to maintain ecosystem functions was the highest scoring responsewith 95 of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement

Knowledge about snow leopards

The mean of the snow leopard knowledge index was 38 (SD = 17) on the scale of 0 to 8points Most respondents (81) had not personally observed snow leopards in naturezoos or zoological parks Two-thirds (66) of respondents however were able topositively identify the snow leopard from the accompanying photograph identificationsheet The other cat species most commonly misidentified as a snow leopard was theclouded leopard (12) followed by the Eurasian lynx (8) puma (7) jaguar (5) tiger(1) common leopard (1) and lion (lt1) A small number of respondents (1) statedthey did know which photograph represented the snow leopard and chose not to answerthe question

Of those who answered the question about whether they had ever read a magazine orbook article or watched a television program about snow leopards 42 had not 37had and 21 were unsure Three fifths (61) of those surveyed had been aware that thespecies was present in ACA although most (82) believed that snow leopards were noteasily observed in their natural habitat compared with those who thought they were (2)or were unsure (16) Half (50) of those who completed the questionnaire were unsurewhether the snow leopard was found in Africa This was similar to the proportion (45)who felt that it was not found there and considerably more than the percentage whothought it was there (5) Similarly 47 felt that the snow leopard was considered acharismatic species 42 were unsure and 11 thought it was not The final question inthe section asked which IUCN threat category best described the status of snow leopardsin the wild More than half of respondents (51) chose critically endangered whereas therest were split between the endangered (30) vulnerable (2) and donrsquot know cate-gories (17)

The demographic variables detailed above were used for assessing which best explainedknowledge about snow leopards Membership in an environmental organization had thestrongest statistically significant relationship in the multiple regression model followed byeducation (Table 3) Figure 2 shows how these varied The remaining variables were notstatistically significant in the multivariate model although during bivariate analysis thoseactive in the labor force were found to be more supportive of implementing a SLCAP inACA (χ23 = 833 p = 040 n = 382)

Support for snow leopard conservation

Of the 392 tourists who answered the question regarding the importance of implementinga SLCAP in ACA lt1 believed it to be not at all important 3 to be a little important21 to be somewhat important 54 to be very important and 21 to be extremelyimportant The mean score was 392 (SD = 077) on the 5-point scale When analyzed as a

8 J H HANSON ET AL

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

the research project and their verbal consent to participate was requested Participantswere provided with markers to complete the questionnaire which took 23 minutes onaverage (SD = 95 range = 12ndash55 minutes n = 58) while the survey team remained nearbyto provide any necessary clarification

Completed questionnaires were photographed and cataloged prior to data entry on anExcel spreadsheet Once completed the questionnaires were wiped clean with a cloth andmethylated spirits and then prepared for re-administration to the next prospectiveparticipant In total 572 international visitors were approached and 406 agreed toparticipate yielding a 71 response rate Of those who provided a reason for notparticipating over 50 stated a lack of interest with language difficulties (15) andfatigue (11) being the other main reasons

Variable measurement

Snow leopard knowledge indexRespondents were shown pictures of eight large feline species (lion tiger jaguar snowleopard mountain lion common leopard clouded leopard Eurasian lynx) and asked toidentify the snow leopard They were also asked seven more questions related tovarious aspects of snow leopard ecology (a) have you personally observed snowleopards in nature zoos or zoological parks (b) have you ever read a magazine ornewspaper article or watched a television program about snow leopards (c) beforetoday were you aware that snow leopards are found in the Annapurna ConservationArea (d) are snow leopards also found in Africa (e) is the snow leopard considered acharismatic species (f) are snow leopards easily observed in their natural habitats and(g) which category best describes the conservation status of snow leopards in theworld The index had eight response items that served as the assessment domain forvisitors Correctly answered questions received a score of 1 whereas incorrect answerswere scored as 0 The scores were summed across all eight questions to create asummative knowledge index Lower scores indicated a low level of knowledge aboutthe snow leopard whereas higher scores indicated a high level of knowledgeTheoretically the index value varied from 0 to 8 points and these extreme valueswere found in the empirical data

Support for snow leopard conservationRespondents were asked to read a brief summary of the local Snow Leopard ConservationAction Plan and then indicate how important they felt it was to implement this to protectsnow leopards in the ACA Their responses were recorded on a five-point scale rangingfrom ldquonot at all importantrdquo coded as 1 to ldquoextremely importantrdquo coded as 5 In thedescriptive analysis it was found that the lowest category had only two observations so itwas merged with the next category to create a four point ordinal scale Higher scores onthe scale indicated more support for snow leopard conservation

Values of snow leopard conservation and beliefs about endangered speciesFive snow leopard conservation value statements were developed with five-pointresponses ranging from ldquonot at all importantrdquo to ldquoextremely importantrdquo (Table 1)

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 5

Similarly seven endangered belief statements were developed These also used a five-pointresponse scale ranging from ldquostrongly disagreerdquo to ldquostrongly agreerdquo (Table 2)

Socio-demographic characteristicsSocio-demographic variables included gender age level of education participation inlabor force annual financial income (in US dollars) and environmental organizationmembership

Data analysis

In line with the theoretical framework a multiple linear regression model and anordinal regression model were constructed to predict which variables were related toknowledge about snow leopards and support for snow leopard conservation (Field2005 Tabachnick amp Fidell 2007) The plot of the knowledge index was symmetricaland appeared to be normally distributed This speculation was supported by theShapiro Wilk W test which failed to reject the null hypothesis that the data were

Table 1 Visitorsrsquo snow leopard conservation values

Value statements

Not at allimportant

()

Slightlyimportant

()

Moderatelyimportant

()

Veryimportant

()

Extremelyimportant

() Mean SD

I believe that snow leopards have a rightto exist

1 1 5 32 61 452 068

I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist inAnnapurna even if nobody ever seesone

2 3 14 37 44 418 092

I enjoy knowing future generations willget pleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

2 3 15 37 43 417 091

I enjoy knowing other people getpleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

3 6 17 38 37 400 102

I may want to see snow leopards in thefuture in Annapurna

8 10 18 23 42 382 128

Table 2 Visitorsrsquo beliefs about endangered species

Belief statements

StronglyDisagree

()Disagree

()Neutral()

Agree()

StronglyAgree () Mean SD

Endangered species should be preserved tomaintain a healthy ecosystem

1 1 2 21 74 465 072

Economic growth should get priority overendangered species preservation

25 44 20 7 4 221 103

Citizens should bear the responsibility ofprotecting endangered species

1 8 15 47 29 394 094

Many plants and animals become rare due tocauses beyond the control of humans

6 32 23 26 13 308 116

Endangered species have as much right ashumans to exist

3 8 13 28 48 409 110

There are more important environmental concernsthan endangered species preservation

4 16 44 30 6 318 091

The economic value of endangered species playsan important role in their preservation

8 20 26 33 14 324 116

6 J H HANSON ET AL

normally distributed (W = 099 z = 079 p = 216 n = 403) An ordinal least squareestimator was used to build a multiple linear regression model by taking the knowledgeindex as a response variable and the following social-demographic variables as thepredictor variables gender age education participation in labor force income andenvironmental membership

As the second main response variable support for snow leopard conservation wasmeasured on an ordinal scale this precluded the use of the ordinary least square regres-sion An ordinal logistic regression model was therefore constructed by taking support forsnow leopard conservation as a response variable and the three sets of predictor variablesas the theoretical framework inferred knowledge about snow leopards snow leopardconservation values and beliefs about endangered species Socio-demographic informa-tion was added

One of the major assumptions underlying ordinal logistic regression is that the coeffi-cients between each pair of outcome categories are the same Thus the proportional oddsassumption implies that there is the same slope but different intercepts for outcomecategories within a single model Both the likelihood ratio chi-square test and Brant testwere used for testing the null hypothesis that there was no difference in the coefficientsbetween models The p-values were greater than 05 providing evidence that the propor-tional odds assumption was met

Results

Respondent information

Of the sample 48 were male and 42 were female The average age was 322 (SD = 111)years with a range from 18 to 73 For education 23 were educated to high school levelor below 13 to associate degree level 29 to bachelorrsquos degree level 28 to masterrsquosdegree level and 8 to doctoral degree level A minority 41 were active in the laborforce meaning that they were employed full-time part-time or self-employed whereas theremainder (59) were retirees homemakers or students who were not active in the laborforce More than half (55) had an annual household income of less than $40000 28had between $40000 and $80000 and 16 had more than $80000 from all sources beforetaxes Membership in any environmental conservation or wildlife organizations was heldby 17 of respondents When asked how well-informed visitors felt about flora and faunain ACA respondentsrsquo average rating score was 384 (SD = 217) on a 10 point scalesuggesting that they felt poorly informed

Values in relation to snow leopard conservation

There was broad general support for snow leopard conservation (Table 1) with existenceand bequest values having higher means than altruistic and option values The right ofsnow leopards to exist for instance was the most strongly supported statement whereasthe option of seeing snow leopards in the Annapurna area in the future was leastsupported Overall however the proportions of respondents who considered all of thesnow leopard conservation statements to be very or extremely important varied between65 and 93

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 7

Beliefs about endangered species

Respondents had favorable beliefs about endangered species conservation (Table 2) Therewas also a spread of support for use and non-use valuation The importance of conservingendangered species to maintain ecosystem functions was the highest scoring responsewith 95 of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement

Knowledge about snow leopards

The mean of the snow leopard knowledge index was 38 (SD = 17) on the scale of 0 to 8points Most respondents (81) had not personally observed snow leopards in naturezoos or zoological parks Two-thirds (66) of respondents however were able topositively identify the snow leopard from the accompanying photograph identificationsheet The other cat species most commonly misidentified as a snow leopard was theclouded leopard (12) followed by the Eurasian lynx (8) puma (7) jaguar (5) tiger(1) common leopard (1) and lion (lt1) A small number of respondents (1) statedthey did know which photograph represented the snow leopard and chose not to answerthe question

Of those who answered the question about whether they had ever read a magazine orbook article or watched a television program about snow leopards 42 had not 37had and 21 were unsure Three fifths (61) of those surveyed had been aware that thespecies was present in ACA although most (82) believed that snow leopards were noteasily observed in their natural habitat compared with those who thought they were (2)or were unsure (16) Half (50) of those who completed the questionnaire were unsurewhether the snow leopard was found in Africa This was similar to the proportion (45)who felt that it was not found there and considerably more than the percentage whothought it was there (5) Similarly 47 felt that the snow leopard was considered acharismatic species 42 were unsure and 11 thought it was not The final question inthe section asked which IUCN threat category best described the status of snow leopardsin the wild More than half of respondents (51) chose critically endangered whereas therest were split between the endangered (30) vulnerable (2) and donrsquot know cate-gories (17)

The demographic variables detailed above were used for assessing which best explainedknowledge about snow leopards Membership in an environmental organization had thestrongest statistically significant relationship in the multiple regression model followed byeducation (Table 3) Figure 2 shows how these varied The remaining variables were notstatistically significant in the multivariate model although during bivariate analysis thoseactive in the labor force were found to be more supportive of implementing a SLCAP inACA (χ23 = 833 p = 040 n = 382)

Support for snow leopard conservation

Of the 392 tourists who answered the question regarding the importance of implementinga SLCAP in ACA lt1 believed it to be not at all important 3 to be a little important21 to be somewhat important 54 to be very important and 21 to be extremelyimportant The mean score was 392 (SD = 077) on the 5-point scale When analyzed as a

8 J H HANSON ET AL

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

Similarly seven endangered belief statements were developed These also used a five-pointresponse scale ranging from ldquostrongly disagreerdquo to ldquostrongly agreerdquo (Table 2)

Socio-demographic characteristicsSocio-demographic variables included gender age level of education participation inlabor force annual financial income (in US dollars) and environmental organizationmembership

Data analysis

In line with the theoretical framework a multiple linear regression model and anordinal regression model were constructed to predict which variables were related toknowledge about snow leopards and support for snow leopard conservation (Field2005 Tabachnick amp Fidell 2007) The plot of the knowledge index was symmetricaland appeared to be normally distributed This speculation was supported by theShapiro Wilk W test which failed to reject the null hypothesis that the data were

Table 1 Visitorsrsquo snow leopard conservation values

Value statements

Not at allimportant

()

Slightlyimportant

()

Moderatelyimportant

()

Veryimportant

()

Extremelyimportant

() Mean SD

I believe that snow leopards have a rightto exist

1 1 5 32 61 452 068

I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist inAnnapurna even if nobody ever seesone

2 3 14 37 44 418 092

I enjoy knowing future generations willget pleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

2 3 15 37 43 417 091

I enjoy knowing other people getpleasure from snow leopards inAnnapurna

3 6 17 38 37 400 102

I may want to see snow leopards in thefuture in Annapurna

8 10 18 23 42 382 128

Table 2 Visitorsrsquo beliefs about endangered species

Belief statements

StronglyDisagree

()Disagree

()Neutral()

Agree()

StronglyAgree () Mean SD

Endangered species should be preserved tomaintain a healthy ecosystem

1 1 2 21 74 465 072

Economic growth should get priority overendangered species preservation

25 44 20 7 4 221 103

Citizens should bear the responsibility ofprotecting endangered species

1 8 15 47 29 394 094

Many plants and animals become rare due tocauses beyond the control of humans

6 32 23 26 13 308 116

Endangered species have as much right ashumans to exist

3 8 13 28 48 409 110

There are more important environmental concernsthan endangered species preservation

4 16 44 30 6 318 091

The economic value of endangered species playsan important role in their preservation

8 20 26 33 14 324 116

6 J H HANSON ET AL

normally distributed (W = 099 z = 079 p = 216 n = 403) An ordinal least squareestimator was used to build a multiple linear regression model by taking the knowledgeindex as a response variable and the following social-demographic variables as thepredictor variables gender age education participation in labor force income andenvironmental membership

As the second main response variable support for snow leopard conservation wasmeasured on an ordinal scale this precluded the use of the ordinary least square regres-sion An ordinal logistic regression model was therefore constructed by taking support forsnow leopard conservation as a response variable and the three sets of predictor variablesas the theoretical framework inferred knowledge about snow leopards snow leopardconservation values and beliefs about endangered species Socio-demographic informa-tion was added

One of the major assumptions underlying ordinal logistic regression is that the coeffi-cients between each pair of outcome categories are the same Thus the proportional oddsassumption implies that there is the same slope but different intercepts for outcomecategories within a single model Both the likelihood ratio chi-square test and Brant testwere used for testing the null hypothesis that there was no difference in the coefficientsbetween models The p-values were greater than 05 providing evidence that the propor-tional odds assumption was met

Results

Respondent information

Of the sample 48 were male and 42 were female The average age was 322 (SD = 111)years with a range from 18 to 73 For education 23 were educated to high school levelor below 13 to associate degree level 29 to bachelorrsquos degree level 28 to masterrsquosdegree level and 8 to doctoral degree level A minority 41 were active in the laborforce meaning that they were employed full-time part-time or self-employed whereas theremainder (59) were retirees homemakers or students who were not active in the laborforce More than half (55) had an annual household income of less than $40000 28had between $40000 and $80000 and 16 had more than $80000 from all sources beforetaxes Membership in any environmental conservation or wildlife organizations was heldby 17 of respondents When asked how well-informed visitors felt about flora and faunain ACA respondentsrsquo average rating score was 384 (SD = 217) on a 10 point scalesuggesting that they felt poorly informed

Values in relation to snow leopard conservation

There was broad general support for snow leopard conservation (Table 1) with existenceand bequest values having higher means than altruistic and option values The right ofsnow leopards to exist for instance was the most strongly supported statement whereasthe option of seeing snow leopards in the Annapurna area in the future was leastsupported Overall however the proportions of respondents who considered all of thesnow leopard conservation statements to be very or extremely important varied between65 and 93

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 7

Beliefs about endangered species

Respondents had favorable beliefs about endangered species conservation (Table 2) Therewas also a spread of support for use and non-use valuation The importance of conservingendangered species to maintain ecosystem functions was the highest scoring responsewith 95 of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement

Knowledge about snow leopards

The mean of the snow leopard knowledge index was 38 (SD = 17) on the scale of 0 to 8points Most respondents (81) had not personally observed snow leopards in naturezoos or zoological parks Two-thirds (66) of respondents however were able topositively identify the snow leopard from the accompanying photograph identificationsheet The other cat species most commonly misidentified as a snow leopard was theclouded leopard (12) followed by the Eurasian lynx (8) puma (7) jaguar (5) tiger(1) common leopard (1) and lion (lt1) A small number of respondents (1) statedthey did know which photograph represented the snow leopard and chose not to answerthe question

Of those who answered the question about whether they had ever read a magazine orbook article or watched a television program about snow leopards 42 had not 37had and 21 were unsure Three fifths (61) of those surveyed had been aware that thespecies was present in ACA although most (82) believed that snow leopards were noteasily observed in their natural habitat compared with those who thought they were (2)or were unsure (16) Half (50) of those who completed the questionnaire were unsurewhether the snow leopard was found in Africa This was similar to the proportion (45)who felt that it was not found there and considerably more than the percentage whothought it was there (5) Similarly 47 felt that the snow leopard was considered acharismatic species 42 were unsure and 11 thought it was not The final question inthe section asked which IUCN threat category best described the status of snow leopardsin the wild More than half of respondents (51) chose critically endangered whereas therest were split between the endangered (30) vulnerable (2) and donrsquot know cate-gories (17)

The demographic variables detailed above were used for assessing which best explainedknowledge about snow leopards Membership in an environmental organization had thestrongest statistically significant relationship in the multiple regression model followed byeducation (Table 3) Figure 2 shows how these varied The remaining variables were notstatistically significant in the multivariate model although during bivariate analysis thoseactive in the labor force were found to be more supportive of implementing a SLCAP inACA (χ23 = 833 p = 040 n = 382)

Support for snow leopard conservation

Of the 392 tourists who answered the question regarding the importance of implementinga SLCAP in ACA lt1 believed it to be not at all important 3 to be a little important21 to be somewhat important 54 to be very important and 21 to be extremelyimportant The mean score was 392 (SD = 077) on the 5-point scale When analyzed as a

8 J H HANSON ET AL

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

normally distributed (W = 099 z = 079 p = 216 n = 403) An ordinal least squareestimator was used to build a multiple linear regression model by taking the knowledgeindex as a response variable and the following social-demographic variables as thepredictor variables gender age education participation in labor force income andenvironmental membership

As the second main response variable support for snow leopard conservation wasmeasured on an ordinal scale this precluded the use of the ordinary least square regres-sion An ordinal logistic regression model was therefore constructed by taking support forsnow leopard conservation as a response variable and the three sets of predictor variablesas the theoretical framework inferred knowledge about snow leopards snow leopardconservation values and beliefs about endangered species Socio-demographic informa-tion was added

One of the major assumptions underlying ordinal logistic regression is that the coeffi-cients between each pair of outcome categories are the same Thus the proportional oddsassumption implies that there is the same slope but different intercepts for outcomecategories within a single model Both the likelihood ratio chi-square test and Brant testwere used for testing the null hypothesis that there was no difference in the coefficientsbetween models The p-values were greater than 05 providing evidence that the propor-tional odds assumption was met

Results

Respondent information

Of the sample 48 were male and 42 were female The average age was 322 (SD = 111)years with a range from 18 to 73 For education 23 were educated to high school levelor below 13 to associate degree level 29 to bachelorrsquos degree level 28 to masterrsquosdegree level and 8 to doctoral degree level A minority 41 were active in the laborforce meaning that they were employed full-time part-time or self-employed whereas theremainder (59) were retirees homemakers or students who were not active in the laborforce More than half (55) had an annual household income of less than $40000 28had between $40000 and $80000 and 16 had more than $80000 from all sources beforetaxes Membership in any environmental conservation or wildlife organizations was heldby 17 of respondents When asked how well-informed visitors felt about flora and faunain ACA respondentsrsquo average rating score was 384 (SD = 217) on a 10 point scalesuggesting that they felt poorly informed

Values in relation to snow leopard conservation

There was broad general support for snow leopard conservation (Table 1) with existenceand bequest values having higher means than altruistic and option values The right ofsnow leopards to exist for instance was the most strongly supported statement whereasthe option of seeing snow leopards in the Annapurna area in the future was leastsupported Overall however the proportions of respondents who considered all of thesnow leopard conservation statements to be very or extremely important varied between65 and 93

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 7

Beliefs about endangered species

Respondents had favorable beliefs about endangered species conservation (Table 2) Therewas also a spread of support for use and non-use valuation The importance of conservingendangered species to maintain ecosystem functions was the highest scoring responsewith 95 of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement

Knowledge about snow leopards

The mean of the snow leopard knowledge index was 38 (SD = 17) on the scale of 0 to 8points Most respondents (81) had not personally observed snow leopards in naturezoos or zoological parks Two-thirds (66) of respondents however were able topositively identify the snow leopard from the accompanying photograph identificationsheet The other cat species most commonly misidentified as a snow leopard was theclouded leopard (12) followed by the Eurasian lynx (8) puma (7) jaguar (5) tiger(1) common leopard (1) and lion (lt1) A small number of respondents (1) statedthey did know which photograph represented the snow leopard and chose not to answerthe question

Of those who answered the question about whether they had ever read a magazine orbook article or watched a television program about snow leopards 42 had not 37had and 21 were unsure Three fifths (61) of those surveyed had been aware that thespecies was present in ACA although most (82) believed that snow leopards were noteasily observed in their natural habitat compared with those who thought they were (2)or were unsure (16) Half (50) of those who completed the questionnaire were unsurewhether the snow leopard was found in Africa This was similar to the proportion (45)who felt that it was not found there and considerably more than the percentage whothought it was there (5) Similarly 47 felt that the snow leopard was considered acharismatic species 42 were unsure and 11 thought it was not The final question inthe section asked which IUCN threat category best described the status of snow leopardsin the wild More than half of respondents (51) chose critically endangered whereas therest were split between the endangered (30) vulnerable (2) and donrsquot know cate-gories (17)

The demographic variables detailed above were used for assessing which best explainedknowledge about snow leopards Membership in an environmental organization had thestrongest statistically significant relationship in the multiple regression model followed byeducation (Table 3) Figure 2 shows how these varied The remaining variables were notstatistically significant in the multivariate model although during bivariate analysis thoseactive in the labor force were found to be more supportive of implementing a SLCAP inACA (χ23 = 833 p = 040 n = 382)

Support for snow leopard conservation

Of the 392 tourists who answered the question regarding the importance of implementinga SLCAP in ACA lt1 believed it to be not at all important 3 to be a little important21 to be somewhat important 54 to be very important and 21 to be extremelyimportant The mean score was 392 (SD = 077) on the 5-point scale When analyzed as a

8 J H HANSON ET AL

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

Beliefs about endangered species

Respondents had favorable beliefs about endangered species conservation (Table 2) Therewas also a spread of support for use and non-use valuation The importance of conservingendangered species to maintain ecosystem functions was the highest scoring responsewith 95 of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement

Knowledge about snow leopards

The mean of the snow leopard knowledge index was 38 (SD = 17) on the scale of 0 to 8points Most respondents (81) had not personally observed snow leopards in naturezoos or zoological parks Two-thirds (66) of respondents however were able topositively identify the snow leopard from the accompanying photograph identificationsheet The other cat species most commonly misidentified as a snow leopard was theclouded leopard (12) followed by the Eurasian lynx (8) puma (7) jaguar (5) tiger(1) common leopard (1) and lion (lt1) A small number of respondents (1) statedthey did know which photograph represented the snow leopard and chose not to answerthe question

Of those who answered the question about whether they had ever read a magazine orbook article or watched a television program about snow leopards 42 had not 37had and 21 were unsure Three fifths (61) of those surveyed had been aware that thespecies was present in ACA although most (82) believed that snow leopards were noteasily observed in their natural habitat compared with those who thought they were (2)or were unsure (16) Half (50) of those who completed the questionnaire were unsurewhether the snow leopard was found in Africa This was similar to the proportion (45)who felt that it was not found there and considerably more than the percentage whothought it was there (5) Similarly 47 felt that the snow leopard was considered acharismatic species 42 were unsure and 11 thought it was not The final question inthe section asked which IUCN threat category best described the status of snow leopardsin the wild More than half of respondents (51) chose critically endangered whereas therest were split between the endangered (30) vulnerable (2) and donrsquot know cate-gories (17)

The demographic variables detailed above were used for assessing which best explainedknowledge about snow leopards Membership in an environmental organization had thestrongest statistically significant relationship in the multiple regression model followed byeducation (Table 3) Figure 2 shows how these varied The remaining variables were notstatistically significant in the multivariate model although during bivariate analysis thoseactive in the labor force were found to be more supportive of implementing a SLCAP inACA (χ23 = 833 p = 040 n = 382)

Support for snow leopard conservation

Of the 392 tourists who answered the question regarding the importance of implementinga SLCAP in ACA lt1 believed it to be not at all important 3 to be a little important21 to be somewhat important 54 to be very important and 21 to be extremelyimportant The mean score was 392 (SD = 077) on the 5-point scale When analyzed as a

8 J H HANSON ET AL

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

dependent variable three factors were significantly and positively related to these levels ofsupport for SLCAP (Figure 3 and Table 4) First those who had more knowledge aboutsnow leopards were 28 more likely to agree that SLCAP implementation was importantSecond those who agreed with the conservation statement that ldquoI believe snow leopardshave a right to existrdquo were 56 more likely to support SLCAP implementation Thirdrespondents who agreed that ldquoI enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure fromsnow leopards in Annapurnardquo were 48 more likely to support snow leopardconservation

Of the seven belief statements about endangered species only one was significantly andnegatively associated with support for the SLCAP Respondents who felt that wildlifedeclines were due to non-anthropogenic factors were 35 more likely not to supportimplementation of the SLCAP (Table 4) Unlike in the model predicting knowledge aboutsnow leopards no demographic variables were significantly associated with SLCAP sup-port in the multivariate or univariate analyses

Discussion

Although knowledge about snow leopards varied among the tourists support for theirconservation and supportive beliefs about endangered species conservation were commonTourist knowledge about snow leopards was best explained by education level and

Table 3 Ordinary least square regression model explaining visitorsrsquo knowledge about snow leopards

Knowledge about snow leopardsUnstandardizedCoefficient Std Error t p gt t 95 Confidence interval

Gender 0175 0184 095 344 minus0188 0537Age 0001 0009 006 952 minus0018 0019Education 0198 0080 247 014 0040 0356Active in labor force minus0320 0204 minus157 118 minus0720 0081Income minus0042 0039 minus109 277 minus0119 0034Environmental membership 0773 0240 322 001 0300 1245Constant 3328 0320 1039 lt001 2698 3958

High School or less Associate Undergraduate Masters Doctorate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Member Nonmember

Highest level of education

er

oc

se

gd

elw

on

ke

ga

re

vA

Figure 2 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by education and environmental organizationmembership

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 9

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

environmental organization membership Improved knowledge about the species and avariety of intrinsic conservation values best explained support for snow leopard conserva-tion In line with the theoretical framework the high levels of support for snow leopardconservation and respondentsrsquo regard for non-monetary values of snow leopards in thisstudy indicate the need to explore how visitorsrsquo positive beliefs can be translated intomeaningful actions for its conservation Another recent study from ACA for example hasshown that tourists are willing to pay to financially support snow leopard conservation inthe area (Schutgens et al 2018) Similar connections between attitudes toward wildlifeand support for wildlife conservation have been reported from tourists in Australia(Ballantyne et al 2009 Zeppel 2008) and in the Galapagos Islands (Powell amp Ham2008) However data from Asian contexts appear to be limited

Surveys of locals residentsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopards have suggested a range ofopinions (Alexander et al 2015 Bhatia et al 2016 Suryawanshi et al 2014) althoughthese studies did not assess tourist attitudes In addition a study of teacher attitudestoward wildlife and conservation in North-West India found that respondents who werenot from the region were significantly more positive toward snow leopards than were localresidents (Barthwal amp Mathur 2012) This suggests that tourists may be more supportivethan local residents regarding snow leopard conservation as the majority of costs asso-ciated with coexisting with the species are borne locally whereas much of their value isenjoyed globally a distributional inequity trend that is common for many large carnivorespecies (Dickman et al 2011)

As with touristsrsquo attitudes toward snow leopard conservation their knowledge aboutsnow leopards appears not to have been assessed until now This study shows that touristknowledge about the species varies considerably with its IUCN threat status being

I believe that sn

ow

leopard

s have a

right to

exist

I enjo

y k

now

ing futu

re

genera

tions w

ill get

ple

asu

re fro

m snow

leopard

s in

Annapurn

a

I enjo

y k

now

ing snow

leopard

s exist in

Annapurn

a e

ven if

nobody e

ver se

es one

0

05

1

15

2

25

3

35

Not at all Important Slightly Important Moderately Important

Very Important Extremely Important

Av

era

ge

kn

ow

led

ge

sco

re

Figure 3 Mean knowledge about snow leopard scores by snow leopard conservation value statements

10 J H HANSON ET AL

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

overestimated by a majority of respondents but almost two-thirds of respondents beingable to identify it correctly from photographs of various large cat species Studies fromother contexts have shown that tourists can have varying levels of knowledge aboutwildlife but these can contribute to support for conservation in conjunction with valuesand attitudes as the KAP model suggests (Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Yet thetourists surveyed in ACA felt poorly informed about local flora and fauna inferring thatmore could be done to educate them about local biodiversity and its conservation toostensibly increase their support for conservation

Higher scores on the knowledge index about snow leopards were significantly related tohigher levels of education and membership in environmental organizations The role ofeducation in increasing environmental knowledge and changing attitudes is well docu-mented (Nyhus amp Tilson 2004) Other studies have also found environmental member-ship to be a significant predictor of environmental knowledge but often in associationwith other values and activities as per the theoretical framework (Fielding et al 2008)

More than three quarters of respondents believed that implementing a SLCAP inACA was very or extremely important This level of support demonstrates that touristsupport for snow leopard conservation could be a promising strategy for conserving the

Table 4 Ordinal logistic regression model explaining visitorsrsquo support for snow leopard conservationSupport for snow leopard conservation Coefficient SE z p gt z 95 CI

KnowledgeKnowledge about snow leopard 0278 0071 390 lt001 0138 0418

Values of snow leopardsI believe that snow leopards have a right to exist 0558 0217 257 010 0133 0983I enjoy knowing snow leopards exist in Annapurna even ifnobody ever sees one

0321 0168 191 056 minus0008 0649

I enjoy knowing future generations will get pleasure from snowleopards in Annapurna

0478 0241 198 047 0006 0950

I enjoy knowing other people get pleasure from snow leopardsin Annapurna

0055 0195 028 776 minus0326 0437

I may want to see snow leopards in the future in Annapurna 0052 0115 045 651 minus0173 0278Beliefs about endangered speciesEndangered species should be preserved to maintain a healthyecosystem

minus0009 0165 minus005 957 minus0333 0315

Economic growth should get priority over endangered speciespreservation

minus0054 0116 minus046 645 minus0281 0174

Citizens should bear the responsibility of protecting endangeredspecies

0111 0126 088 382 minus0137 0358

Many plants and animals become rare due to causes beyond thecontrol of humans

minus0348 0106 minus327 001 minus0556 minus0139

Endangered species have as much right as humans to exist 0128 0118 109 275 minus0102 0359There are more important environmental concerns thanendangered species preservation

minus0068 0135 minus051 613 minus0333 0197

The economic value of endangered species plays an importantrole in their preservation

minus0007 0102 minus007 942 minus0207 0192

Socio-demographic characteristicsGender minus0035 0234 minus015 882 minus0493 0423Age 0006 0013 051 612 minus0019 0032Education 0002 0107 002 984 minus0207 0211Active in labor force minus0338 0262 minus129 197 minus0853 0176Income minus0040 0051 minus077 442 minus0140 0061Environmental membership 0409 0314 130 194 minus0207 1025

Cut 1 2743 1429 (Ancillary parameters)Cut 2 5293 1442Cut 3 8556 1499

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 11

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

species especially if this can be captured financially as well as intrinsically (Schutgenset al 2018) These findings therefore corroborate tourismrsquos inclusion in various high-level snow leopard conservation strategy documents (GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al2013) as well as Nepalrsquos nationwide Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan2017ndash2021 (DNPWC 2017)

Tourist support for SLCAP implementation was significantly associated with higherscores on the knowledge index about snow leopards The positive correlation betweenknowledge and environmental attitudes has been studied elsewhere (Barthwal amp Mathur2012 Kansky amp Knight 2014) Here it suggests that educating tourists may help toincrease their support for snow leopard conservation In addition the significant relation-ship between two snow leopard conservation statements and support for the SLCAPsuggests that non-use or intrinsic worth is particularly important in understanding howtourists value snow leopards This has been noted with other species (Loomis amp White1996 Richardson amp Loomis 2009)

These findings show that tourist knowledge about and some beliefs toward snowleopards intersect with the immediate contextmdashthe proposed implementation of theSLCAP in ACAmdashto elicit high levels of support for snow leopard conservation as perthe theoretical framework This relationship can help to understand and promote touristengagement with snow leopards and their habitat It also complements the findings ofother studies that have found this to be true in various other conservation and environ-mental settings (Fielding et al 2008 Powell amp Ham 2008 Zeppel 2008) Here this hasbeen linked with the KAP model to empirically demonstrate the interconnection ofknowledge attitudes and practice in the context of snow leopard conservation as notedelsewhere in other contexts (Mostafa 2007 Newhouse 1990 Roelens et al 2006)

Conclusions

Knowledge about and several intrinsic values in relation to snow leopards are related to abehavioral intention to support their conservation which in this context is the imple-mentation of a SLCAP in ACA The findings also suggest that increasing the levels oftourist knowledge about snow leopards can increase their support for snow leopardconservation lending weight to the importance of communicating conservation messagesto people visiting snow leopard sites and landscapes These results also provide baselinedata on this topic in the Annapurna region of Nepal and complement recent work in theregion on tourist willingness-to-pay for snow leopard conservation (Schutgens et al2018) In addition conservation policies in this area and elsewhere should emphasizethe role of extrinsic and intrinsic values such as existence and bequest values forprotecting the snow leopard

Given the popularity of ACA as a tourism destination these findings may not berepresentative of other protected areas across snow leopard habitats especially in remoteareas where tourist access is limited Nevertheless at sites where tourists do visit insufficient numbers visitor knowledge of and support for snow leopards and their con-servation should be assessed and compared Similar studies with domestic visitors shouldalso be conducted to compare and contrast the results with international visitors Byproviding empirical data on how tourists relate to this iconic species this study comple-ments existing recommendations in snow leopard conservation policy (DNPWC 2017

12 J H HANSON ET AL

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

GSLEP 2013 Jackson et al 2013) that wildlife tourism be employed as an important toolto conserve the species

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESJ5000331]

References

Ale SB Shrestha B amp Jackson R (2014) On the status of snow leopard panthera uncia inAnnapurna Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa 6 5534ndash5543 doi1011609JoTT

Alexander J Chen P Damerell P Youkui W Hughes J Shi K amp Riordan P (2015) Humanwildlife conflict involving large carnivores in Qilianshan China and the minimal paw-print ofsnow leopards Biological Conservation 187 1ndash9 doi101016jbiocon201504002

Anand A Chandan P amp Singh R B (2012) Homestays at Korzok Supplementing rurallivelihoods and supporting green tourism in the Indian Himalayas Mountain Research andDevelopment 32 126ndash136 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-001091

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Falk J (2011) Visitorsrsquo learning for environmental sustainabilityTesting short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equationmodelling Tourism Management 32 1243ndash1252 doi101016jtourman201011003

Ballantyne R Packer J amp Hughes K (2009) Touristsrsquo support for conservation messages andsustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences Tourism Management 30658ndash664 doi101016jtourman200811003

Balmford A Beresford J Green J Naidoo R Walpole M amp Manica A (2009) A globalperspective on trends in nature-based tourism PLOS Biology 7(6) e1000144 doi101371jour-nalpbio1000144

Baral N amp Dhungana A (2014) Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizingon untapped revenues Forest Policy and Economics 41 60ndash67

Barthwal S C amp Mathur V B (2012) Teachersrsquo knowledge of and attitude toward wildlife andconservation Mountain Research and Development 32 169ndash175 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-000401

Bhatia S Redpath S M Suryawanshi K amp Mishra C (2016) The relationship between religionand attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22 1ndash13

Bhuju U R Shakya P R Basnet T B amp Shrestha S (2007) Nepal biodiversity resource bookProtected areas ramsar sites and World heritage sites Kathmandu Nepal ICIMOD

Buckley R (2010) Conservation tourism Wallingford UK CABIBudhathoki P (2004) Linking communities with conservation in developing countries Buffer zone

management initiatives in Nepal Oryx 38 334ndash341 doi101017S0030605304000584Daconto G amp Sherpa L N (2010) Applying scenario planning to park and tourism management

in Sagarmatha National Park Khumbu Nepal Mountain Research and Development 30 103ndash112 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-09-000471

Dickman A J Macdonald E A amp Macdonald D W (2011) A review of financial instruments topay for predator conservation and encourage humanndashCarnivore coexistence Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 108 13937ndash13944 doi101073pnas1012972108

DNPWC (2017) Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal 2017-2021 Kathmandu NepalDepartment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS Thousand Oaks CA SageFielding K S McDonald R amp Louis W R (2008) Theory of planned behavior identity and

intentions to engage in environmental activism Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 318ndash326 doi101016jjenvp200803003

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 13

Government of Nepal (2012) National population and housing census 2011 Village developmentcommitteemunicipality Kathmandu Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics

GSLEP (2013) Global snow leopard and ecosystem protection program Bishkek KyrgyzstanAuthor

Hussain S (2000) Protecting the snow leopard and enhancing farmersrsquo livelihoods A pilotinsurance scheme in Baltistan Mountain Research and Development 20 226ndash231 doi1016590276-4741(2000)020[0226PTSLAE]20CO2

Jackson R Mishra C McCarthy T M amp Ale S (2010) Snow leopards Conflict and conserva-tion In D W Macdonald amp A J Loveridge (Eds) Biology and conservation of wild felids (pp417ndash430) Oxford UK Oxford University Press

Jackson R Mallon D Sharma R K Suryawanshi K R amp Mishra C (2013) Snow leopardsurvival strategy Seattle WA Snow Leopard Network

Johansson Ouml Rauset G R Samelius G McCarthy T Andreacuten H Tumursukh L amp Mishra C(2016) Land sharing is essential for snow leopard conservation Biological Conservation 203 1ndash7doi101016jbiocon201608034

Kala C P amp Maikhuri R K (2011) Mitigating people-park conflicts on resource use throughecotourism A case of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve Indian Himalaya Journal of MountainScience 8 87ndash95 doi101007s11629-011-1010-5

Kansky R amp Knight A T (2014) Key factors driving attitudes towards large mammals in conflictwith humans Biological Conservation 179 93ndash105 doi101016jbiocon201409008

Loomis J B amp White D S (1996) Economic values of increasingly rare and endangered fishFisheries 21(11) 6ndash10 doi1015771548-8446(1996)021lt0006EVOIRAgt20CO2

Martin A Rutagarama E Gray M Asuma S Bana M Basabose A amp Mwine M (2011)Linking development interventions to conservation Perspectives from partners in theInternational Gorilla Conservation Programme Society amp Natural Resources 24 626ndash636doi101080089419202010521809

McCarthy T Mallon D Jackson R Zahler P amp McCarthy K (2017) Panthera uncia RetrievedOctober 11 2017 from httpwwwiucnredlistorgdetails227320

Miller Z D (2017) The enduring use of the theory of planned behavior Human Dimensions ofWildlife 22 583ndash590 doi1010801087120920171347967

Mishra C Allen P McCarthy T O M Madhusudan M D Bayarjargal A amp Prins H H T(2003) The role of incentive programs in conserving the snow leopard Conservation Biology 171512ndash1520 doi101111j1523-1739200300092x

Mostafa M M (2007) Gender differences in Egyptian consumersrsquo green purchase behaviour Theeffects of environmental knowledge concern and attitude International Journal of ConsumerStudies 31 220ndash229 doi101111j1470-6431200600523x

Namgail T Majumder B Dadul J Agvaantseren B Allen P Dashzeveg U amp Khatiwada A(2016) Incentive and reward programs in snow leopard conservation In T McCarthy amp DMallon (Eds) Snow leopards (pp 163ndash178) New York NY Elsevier

Nepal S K (2002) Mountain ecotourism and sustainable development Mountain Research andDevelopment 22 104ndash109 doi1016590276-4741(2002)022[0104MEASD]20CO2

Newhouse N (1990) Implications of attitude and behavior research for environmental con-servation The Journal of Environmental Education 22 26ndash32 doi1010800095896419909943043

Newsome D Dowling R K amp Moore S A (2005) Wildlife tourism Bristol UK Channel ViewPublications

Nyhus P J amp Tilson R (2004) Characterizing human-tiger conflict in Sumatra IndonesiaImplications for conservation Oryx 38 68ndash74 doi101017S0030605304000110

Powell R B amp Ham S H (2008) Can ecotourism interpretation really lead to pro-conservationknowledge attitudes and behaviour Evidence from the Galapagos Islands Journal of SustainableTourism 16 467ndash489 doi10108009669580802154223

Rastogi A Hickey G M Badola R amp Hussain S A (2012) Saving the superstar A review of thesocial factors affecting tiger conservation in India Journal of Environmental Management 113328ndash340 doi101016jjenvman201210003

14 J H HANSON ET AL

Rennie D M (1995) Health education models and food hygiene education Journal of the RoyalSociety of Health 115(2) 75ndash79

Reynolds P C amp Braithwaite D (2001) Towards a conceptual framework for wildlife tourismTourism Management 22 31ndash42 doi101016S0261-5177(00)00018-2

Richardson L amp Loomis J (2009) The total economic value of threatened endangered and rarespecies An updated meta-analysis Ecological Economics 68 1535ndash1548 doi101016jecolecon200810016

Roelens K Verstraelen H Van Egmond K amp Temmerman M (2006) A knowledge attitudesand practice survey among obstetrician-gynaecologists on intimate partner violence in FlandersBelgium BMC Public Health 6 238ndash248 doi1011861471-2458-6-238

Rosen T Hussain S Mohammad G Jackson R Janecka J E amp Michel S (2012) Reconcilingsustainable development of mountain communities with large carnivore conservation lessonsfrom Pakistan Mountain Research and Development 32 286ndash293 doi101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-12-000081

Schutgens M G Hanson J H Baral N amp Ale S (2018) Visitorsrsquo willingness to pay for snowleopard Panthera uncia conservation in the Annapurna Conservation Area Nepal Oryx 52 1ndash10 doi101017S0030605317001636

Sekhar U N (2003) Local peoplersquos attitudes towards conservation and wildlife tourism aroundSariska Tiger Reserve India Journal of Environmental Management 69 339ndash347 doi101016jjenvman200309002

Shackley M L (1996) Wildlife tourism Boston MA Cengage LearningSuryawanshi K R Bhatia S Bhatnagar Y V Redpath S amp Mishra C (2014) Multiscale factors

affecting human attitudes toward snow leopards and wolves Conservation Biology 28 1657ndash1666 doi101111cobi12320

Tabachnick B G amp Fidell L S (2007) Using multivariate statistics 5th edition Boston MAPearson

Walpole M amp Leader-Williams N (2002) Tourism and flagship species in conservationBiodiversity amp Conservation 11 543ndash547 doi101023A1014864708777

Zeppel H (2008) Education and conservation benefits of marine wildlife tours Developing free-choice learning experiences The Journal of Environmental Education 39 3ndash18 doi103200JOEE3933-18

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE 15