Low-intensity environmental education can enhance perceptions of culturally taboo wildlife

Traditional cultural beliefs influence perceptions of animals, and in some cases can result in persecution of wildlife. Stigmas against species associated with witchcraft, for example, can act as a barrier to the uptake of more cost effective, sustainable, and environmentally sound practices such as reducing crop damage by controlling rodent agricultural pests by relying on indigenous predators rather than pesticides. One way of enhancing perceptions of wildlife to increase participation in such ecologically-based rodent management (EBRM) schemes, is the development of environmental education initiatives. Low intensity programmes are cost-effective and can produce positive attitudinal shifts, but their impact has not been assessed for species strongly associated with witchcraft. We set out to test whether a single presentation on the natural history of owls (order Strigiformes) could improve perceptions of these species, and increase willingness to participate in an EBRM scheme that involved the installation of owl boxes to increase owl populations and reduce rodent populations and crop damage in agricultural fields. We used a questionnaire survey to assess perceptions of owls at four schools in two villages in South Africa. Our initial survey sampled perceptions of respondents before listening to the presentation. A follow-up survey conducted three months later sampled the perceptions of respondents that had listened to the presentation as well as perceptions of a control group that did not listen to the presentation. We found that associations between owls and witchcraft was a common theme driving negative perceptions of owls. Respondents that watched the presentation had more positive perceptions of owls than respondents that had not watched the presentation, and they were more likely to be willing to put up owl boxes near their home. Despite this shift, negative perceptions of owls still dominated responses due to cultural associations with the occult. These findings indicate that even low-intensity programmes can be effective at enhancing perceptions of wildlife associated with witchcraft. We suggest that environmental education programmes featuring culturally taboo species should adopt a culturally sensitive and locally tailored approach, focus on the benefits these species provide, and may be more effective when delivered with greater intensity.


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Traditional cultural beliefs influence perceptions of animals, and in some cases can result in persecution of 27 wildlife. Stigmas against species associated with witchcraft, for example, can act as a barrier to the uptake 28 of more cost effective, sustainable, and environmentally sound practices such as reducing crop damage by 29 controlling rodent agricultural pests by relying on indigenous predators rather than pesticides. One way of 30 enhancing perceptions of wildlife to increase participation in such ecologically-based rodent management 31 (EBRM) schemes, is the development of environmental education initiatives. Low intensity programmes 32 are cost-effective and can produce positive attitudinal shifts, but their impact has not been assessed for 33 species strongly associated with witchcraft. We set out to test whether a single presentation on the natural 34 history of owls (order Strigiformes) could improve perceptions of these species, and increase willingness 35 to participate in an EBRM scheme that involved the installation of owl boxes to increase owl populations 36 and reduce rodent populations and crop damage in agricultural fields. We used a questionnaire survey to 37 assess perceptions of owls at four schools in two villages in South Africa. Our initial survey sampled 38 perceptions of respondents before listening to the presentation. A follow-up survey conducted three months 39 later sampled the perceptions of respondents that had listened to the presentation as well as perceptions of 40 a control group that did not listen to the presentation. We found that associations between owls and 41 6 EBRM uptake is reliant on delivering education that stresses the benefits native species can provide farmers 116 and emphasises the ecological interconnectedness between rodents, pesticides, and predators ( to be determined if low intensity environmental education can sensitively and cost effectively enhance 127 perspectives of culturally taboo species. Utilising a case study approach, we examined young people's 128 perceptions of owls in two rural South African communities before and after conducting a low intensity 129 environmental education programme. We assessed whether listening to a single presentation on the natural 130 history of owls, their biological benefits, and the roles of owls and humans within the ecosystem could 131 improve perceptions of these species, and increase willingness to take part in a future EBRM trial to help 132 reduce agricultural damage from rodent pests by installing owl nest boxes. We hypothesise that attitudes 133 towards owls will show a moderate improvement in response to the environmental education scheme, but 134 improvements may be limited by the low intensity of the programme and how deeply entrenched such 135 cultural beliefs tend to be. Limpopo Province, South Africa (Fig. 1)  In each village we visited learners in one primary school (grade 6/7; ages 12-13) and one secondary school 166 (grade 11/12; ages 17-18). Young people were targeted because environmental education may be more 167 effective at changing attitudes when people are exposed to concepts earlier in life (Caro et al., 1994), and 168 they can also successfully change attitudes of other family members (Marchini and Macdonald, 2019). In 169 August 2016 we administered a questionnaire (Document S1a) to a total of 283 learners at the two primary 170 schools and two secondary schools from the two villages (Table S2). We then delivered a 20-minute 171 presentation on the natural history of owls (slides shown in Document S3). The presentation included 172 information on the mean number of rodents eaten by a western barn owl and a spotted eagle owl in a night 173 (Verreaux's eagle-owl is uncommon and pearl-spotted owls are largely insectivorous). The scholars were 174 involved in the presentation by being asked to calculate, based on the information provided, how many 175 rodents an individual owl could potentially eat in a year. We administered a very similar questionnaire 176 (Document S1b) to 340 learners at the same four schools in November 2016 to assess whether perceptions 177 had changed over the intervening three months. Seventy four of the learners that completed questionnaires 178 in the follow up survey had not watched the presentation, and individuals belonging to this group were used 179 as a control group. The presentation and questionnaires were conducted in English, and translated into 180 Tshivenda and Xitsonga by a local interpreter. The questionnaire questions and responses used in the 181 analysis are shown in Table 1. Informed consent was obtained from the principle of each school and the 182 teachers of each class, who gave permission to participate in the study after discussing the questionnaires 183 in detail, and answering any questions they had. The teachers were also present when the questionnaires 184 were administered.  We coded data in such a way that more positive responses regarding perceptions of owls and coexisting 198 with owls were given more positive values, in order to facilitate interpretation of the results. We tested for 199 differences in responses to questions with binary responses (questions 1-3) by fitting Bernoulli generalised 200 linear models to the data using the glm function in the stats package in base R version 3.6.1 (R Development 201 Core Team, 2019). We used the conditional log-log link functions to allow for more asymmetry in the 202 distributions. We used responses as dependant variables and stage (either before or after watching the 203 presentation) as independent variables. To test for differences in responses to questions with multiple 204 ranked responses (questions 4-7) we fitted ordered logistic regression models, again with responses as 205 dependant variables and survey as independent variables, using the polr function in the package MASS 206 (Venables and Ripley, 2002). We used Akaike's information criterion to compare models including 207 responses from the treatment group against null models, and models including responses from the control 208 group against null models. Plots were created using ggplot2 (Wickham, 2016). We considered the main 209 themes emerging in the responses to the open questions 8 and 9, and extracted representative quotes. 210 Furthermore we categorised responses to question 8 into those that mentioned traditional cultural beliefs 211 around owls and those that mentioned impacts of owls on controlling rodents. We compared the proportions 212 of responses falling into these categories between respondents before watching the presentation, in the 213 follow-up survey after the presentation was given, sub-divided between students that did see the 214 presentation and those that did not watch the presentation. All data and R code are publicly available 215

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Perceptions of owls were generally negative both before and after listening to the presentation (Figs 2-3). 219 But while perceptions towards owls were still negative overall after watching the presentation, responses 220 to questions 1-6 were less negative after watching the presentation than before watching the presentation, 221 supporting our hypothesis (Table 2). For question 7 responses did not differ between questionnaires 222 administered before or after watching the presentation. Models of responses of the control group to each 223 question fitted the data no better than the null models, suggesting that any differences in the treatment group 224 were likely to be linked to listening to the presentation. in witchcraft, and the negative consequences that this will have for those that live in areas with owls. When 250 asked "What do you believe is going to happen if an owl lands on the roof of your home?" typical responses 251 include "Someone going to die", "That someone is about to bewitch me", "I believe that it is sent by 252 witches", or "Nothing happy, I will chase it away". Some respondents also expressed more utilitarian views 253 such as "It will help me killing rats" or "I will just try to kill it because it make a problem -noise". In 254 contrast, when asked "What problem, if any, do rats and mice cause for you and your family?", respondents 255 were less likely to share supernatural beliefs, again focussing on utilitarian impacts such as "Eat food,

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Perceptions of owls were less negative after watching the presentation than before watching the 267 presentation. Despite this shift, perceptions of owls still remained negative overall, which was linked to 268 their associations with witchcraft, although the prevalence of responses relating to a negative association 269 between owls and witchcraft appeared to be lower among respondents that had seen the presentation than 270 those that had not. This is not surprising given how strongly-held beliefs in the supernatural tend to be 271 Madagascar during a single day was sufficient to improve knowledge and attitudes of school children in 282 relation to these species (Rakotomamonjy et al., 2015). Similarly, an environmental education programme 283 that centred on screening three 20-minute educational films on the threats posed to mountain gorillas 284

Gorilla beringei beringei and chimpanzees Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii for school children in Uganda 285
was able improve attitudes towards great apes and knowledge of conservation actions (Leeds et al., 2017). 286 In these communities, however, the focal species are not strongly linked with negative supernatural 287 superstitions (Leeds et al., 2017; Rakotomamonjy et al., 2015). In addition to superstitious views of owls, respondents tended to frame positive and negative views 319 pertaining to owls and rodents in utilitarian terms. This is not surprising, as lower income communities 320 have a more pressing urgency to fulfil basic needs than higher income groups, and are consequently more 321 likely to consider animals from a utilitarian perspective (Infield, 1988). Wildlife perceived to be devoid of Our findings also suggest that in addition to enhancing perceptions of wildlife, environmental education 333 could be also an incredibly useful tool to increase participation in community programmes such as EBRM 334 initiatives. Respondents that watched the presentation were more likely to say they would be willing to 335 have an owl box installed in their yard, which could help reduce rodent densities in fields by increasing owl 336 populations in agricultural areas (Paz et al., 2013). Although the animal welfare implications of using 337 indigenous predators to control pests rather than relying on poison have recently been questioned (Allen et 338 al., 2019), there is little doubt that using ecosystem services provided by natural predators would be more 339 ecologically sound and more sustainable than chemical rodenticides for community members farming in 340 rural agro-ecosystems (Singleton et al., 1999). 341

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We note, however, that while we observed increased theoretical willingness to participate in a future EBRM 343 programme involving erecting owl nesting boxes, further studies are required to assess whether this would 344 translate into actual increased participation after the launch of such a scheme, as this is not always the case 345