Oryx Vol 39 No 4 October 2005 © 2005 FFI, Oryx, 39(4), 406–412 doi:10.1017/S0030605305000992 Printed in the United Kingdom 406 Cattle ranchers’ attitudes to conflicts with jaguar Panthera onca in the Pantanal of Brazil A. Zimmermann, M.J. Walpole and N. Leader-Williams Abstract Across its range in Latin America the jaguar Panthera onca is threatened by habitat loss and through conflict with people. In the Pantanal of Brazil, where large areas of land are devoted to cattle ranching, jaguars often attack livestock and are persecuted by ranchers. However, the extent to which livestock predation and/or other socio-economic factors affect ranchers’ tolerance of jaguars is unclear. This study examined ranchers’ atti- tudes towards jaguars and conservation in the northern Pantanal in order to identify ways of resolving jaguar- rancher conflict. The results suggest that most respon- dents supported the conservation of the Pantanal but that attitudes towards jaguars were mixed and difficult to predict on the basis of socio-economic factors. Attitudes A. Zimmermann¹ (Corresponding author), M.J. Walpole² and N. Leader-Williams Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NS, UK. ¹Current address: Conservation Department, North of England Zoological Society, Zoological Gardens Chester, Chester, CH2 1LH, UK. E-mail a.zimmermann@chesterzoo.org ²Current address: Fauna & Flora International, Great Eastern House, Tenison Road, Cambridge, CB1 2TT, UK. Received 10 January 2005. Revision requested 21 April 2005. Accepted 7 June 2005. towards jaguars were more closely related to respon- dents’ age and relative wealth than to jaguar-related ben- efits through tourism or costs through cattle predation. Whilst efforts to reduce cattle losses are needed, it may be equally as important for conservation initiatives to focus on the inherent appreciation of the natural value of the Pantanal within this ranching community. Keywords Attitudes, conservation strategies, human- wildlife conflict, jaguars, livestock predation, Pantanal, Panthera onca. This paper contains supplementary material that can only be found online at http://journals.cambridge.org Introduction Wildlife-human conflict is a widespread conservation issue of increasing concern to conservationists (Wood- roffe et al., 2005). Livestock is often killed by predators living close to farmland and pastures (Nyhus & Tilson, 2004; Patterson et al., 2004). Livelihoods can be severely affected by such depredation, generating negative attitudes and persecution of the culprits (Woodroffe & Ginsberg, 1998; Hussain, 2003). The extent to which people tolerate wildlife damage may be influenced by various socio-economic factors, including relative wealth, levels of education, the extent to which people derive monetary or other benefit from wildlife, and the magnitude of wildlife-associated costs (Oli et al., 1994; de Boer & Baquete, 1998). However, personal values also have an important influence on attitudes towards conservation (Naughton-Treves et al., 2003). Therefore, understanding which factors influence attitudes and tolerance in different situations is key to choosing and targeting the most appropriate solutions, whether mitigation to reduce losses (Ogada et al., 2003), education to improve awareness (Marker et al., 2003), or benefit generation to provide incentives (Mishra et al., 2003). In Central and South America conflict between jaguars Panthera onca and cattle ranchers is common and leads to serious livelihood losses and the killing of many jaguars. The jaguar, categorized as Near Threatened (IUCN, 2004), is the third largest cat species and exists in a wide variety of habitats, within and outside protected areas (Nowell & Jackson, 1996). The jaguar’s natural prey base is extremely diverse, with over 85 species recorded in its diet across different parts of its range (Mondolfi & Hoogesteijn, 1986; Nowell & Jackson, 1996). Domesti- cated animals including cattle, horses, donkeys, dogs and pigs also constitute important prey items. Many cattle ranches in South America occupy formerly prime jaguar habitat, and therefore livestock has become easy prey for jaguars in Brazil and Venezuela (Crawshaw & Quigley, 1991; Hoogesteijn et al., 1993). Although livestock losses to jaguars have been quanti- fied in a number of sites, there have been few studies of its impact on local attitudes. A recent study by Conforti & Azevedo (2003) measured attitudes towards jaguars around the 1,700 km 2 Iguaçu National Park in Brazil. Unlike the Iguaçu region, the 200,000 km 2 Pantanal in Brazil is a major stronghold for jaguars globally. The