The social landscape of wolves in Canada - preliminary findings

Despite the long-standing presence of wolves (Canis lupus) in Canada, attitudes toward wolves have been understudied at the national scale. However, such data can inform wildlife management policies and robust coexistence strategies. We developed an 11-question survey to assess "the social landscape" of wolves in Canada. We explored the following research questions: 1) Are attitudes toward wolves generally positive? 2) What is the role of proximity on attitudes toward and tolerance for wolves? 3) What demographic characteristics matter most? Preliminary results indicate that Canadians have positive attitudes toward wolves regardless of age, gender, province, and vote in the last federal election; only ethnicity had a statistically significant effect. We also found that positive attitude is related to proximity and tolerance. More research with larger sample sizes and more focused surveys are needed to delve deeper into these preliminary results.