Abstract
The issues of human-wildlife conflict have been nationwide expanding because distribution and population of pest species has been increased. Recently, Wildlife Damage has become a serious human-wildlife issues not only in rural area but also in suburban area. In this paper, we examine public attitude corresponded to damage risk by Japanese macaques in suburban area, Fujiyoshida city and Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture. In the investigation area, wildlife damage caused by wild macaques of the Yoshida troop is very serious. We conducted 1) damage risk estimation and 2) questionnaire survey to evaluate public attitude toward damage perception, method to prevent damage and concerning to conduct countermeasures, then compared public attitude among damage risk stages. The questionnaire survey was conducted 1,549 residents located within 300m from forest edge (valid response: 643). As a result, damage perception showed similar trend to damage risk, so approximately 70 percent of residents into high risk area was thought damage by macaques has been more serious. Spatial distribution of crop damage was more expanded than that of household damage. Positive and negative attitude toward method to prevent damage by monkeys was coexisted in same area, excluded high risk region. Therefore, we conclude that residents' cooperation and active action to prevent damage is difficult because of their variance attitude and coexisted variance cultivation scale, so we propose that participation of education department are needed to introduce the public the realities of damage prevention.
