PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP AS A TOOL IN SUSTAINABLE WOLF MANAGEMENT

1. PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP AS A TOOL IN SUSTAINABLE WOLF MANAGEMENT Pohja-Mykrä Mari1& Kurki Sami1& MykräSakari2 1Ruralia Institute, University of Helsinki 2University of Turku Pathways 2014 Conference: Integrating Human Dimensions into Fish and Wildlife Management, 5-9 October 2014

2. LACK OF ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY Preparation of new national wolf management plan Implementation of national wolf management plan Evaluation of Finnish national largecarnivorepolicy Prepara- tory phase

3. MAIN HYPOTHESIS Ecological, economic and social factors of large carnivore management are interdependent. Exceeding the limits of social tolerance will lead to the failure of systematic population management based on an ecological objective.

4. DEFINING THE CONFLICT Articles: Pohja-Mykrä M (2014) Felony or act of justice? - Illegal killing of large carnivores as defiance of authorities [manuscript]. Pohja-Mykrä M & Kurki S (2014) Strong community support for illegal killing challenges wolf management, EJWR, 60(5), 759-770. Reports: Pohja-Mykrä & Kurki (2013) Suurpetopolitiikka kriisissä – salakaadot ja yhteisön tuki, Report 98, University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute. Pohja-MykräM & Kurki S (2014) Kansallisen suurpetopolitiikan kehittämisarviointi (Evaluation of national largecarnivore management), Report 114, University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute.

5. FELONY OR ACT OF JUSTICE? • Local people challenge the authorities via active and passive resistance which manifests in illegal killings of large carnivores and in support and silent acceptance by community members. • Anger and fear as well as deep-seated frustration toward authorities act as a driving force for a hunting violator to carry out the illegal killing and same argument is found in the community support for illegal killings and hunting violators. • The wolf is especially the focus of illegal killing. • Legitimacy crisis is viewed in terms of local, rural defiance of management regimes imposed by the authorities and perceived locally as illegitimate. • Hunting violators have become righteous outlaws. • By means of neutralization techniques, both violators and community members negate the shame from the stigma and sanctions associated with violating the law. • A sociopolitical crime is thus committed not solely by the individual hunting violators, but by the whole local community.

6. NEXT STEPS • In managing value-based conflicts disputes are unavoidable. • Management procedures and new forms of communication among management actors must be further examined in the context of sociopolitical lawlessness. • Find means to develop the predator’s role as a community resource. • Support the role of local stakeholders as essential actors in their community (with specialreference to stakeholdersaliencetheories). • Recognize the indispensability of historical knowledge for a transformation of the current culture of large carnivore management. • Present psychological ownership (PO) as a tool for managing human-large carnivore conflicts.

7. PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP – PO (Pierce et al. 2003) • PO has been studied in a variety of contexts, such as consumer behavior, customs and practices of different societies, with employees in the workplace and with urban forest owners. • PO consists of three key experiences: 1) controlling the ownership target, 2) coming to intimately know the target, and 3) investing one’s self in the target. • Feelings of ownership allow individuals to fulfill three basic human motives: 1) efficacy, 2) self-identity, and 3) having a place.

8. IN PRACTICE The sense of ownership is created through practical management measures involving • trust building, • giving rights, and • demanded responsibilities, thus affecting attitudes. • PO may be simplified as a feeling of responsibilitytoward the ownership target.

9. ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY APPROACH • Species-spesificattitudes • Did hunting bounties affect the persecution intensity? - The statistics on killed large carnivores and paid bounties (Official Statistics of Finland during the period of 1899 -1942) • Prevalent attitudes in legislative documents, articles from selected newspapers, magazines and zoological journals, and the publications of various interest groups from 1897 to 1928 (N=451) • Key actors • Who hold PO toward large carnivores?

10. Unlike other large carnivores (brown bear (N=33, p<.05); lynx (N=25, p<.005); wolverine (N=44, p<.001)) persecution of wolves (N=44, p=.028) was run by other motives than bounties paid. • Affect on emotions such as fear. • Wolf is considered as extremely harmful species. No local benefits are gained from wolves. • Support wolf as a community resource. • Salientstakeholdershavebeendisregardedin the currentwolfmanagement. • Give an essentialrole to hunters as keyactors in the community. • Give an activerole to the localcommunities in wolf management.

11. MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS • Building trustbetweenlocals/hunters and authorities • Involvingstakeholders in decision-making/research • Sharingup-to-dateresearch data • Popularisation of research data • Givingrights • Involvingstakeholders in decision-making • Valuablegameanimal • Territorialcompensationmodelwith ’sanctionsclause’ • Demandingresponsibilities • Involvingstakeholders in decision-making • Bag limit adjustments and allocation • Preventingdamages • Human safety • Localexpertise and cooperation

12. CONTROLLING THE OWNERSHIP TARGET COMING TO INTIMATELY KNOW THE TARGET INVESTING ONE’S SELF IN THE TARGET • Building trustbetweenlocals/hunters and authorities • Involvingstakeholders in decision-making/research • Sharingup-to-dateresearch data • Popularisation of research data • Givingrights • Involvingstakeholders in decision-making • Valuablegameanimal • Territorialcompensationmodel with ’sanctionsclause’ • Demandingresponsibilities • Involvingstakeholders in decision-making • Bag limit adjustments and allocation • Preventingdamages • Human safety • Localexpertise and cooperation

13. EXPECTED RESULTS OF PO • Possibility to influence on wolves, open-access wolf information and trust between actors • Fear of wolves will reduce. • Wolves are a resource for the community & Community holds shared responsibilities and rights • Common local interest to keep up the wolf occurrence. •  Ruraldefiancy of authoritieswilldecrease. • ”Goodpoacher” becomes”Badpoacher” • Illegalhuntingwilldiminish to the levelthatwillnotrisk • ecologicalsustainability of wolf management.

14. THANK YOU.