Journal of Natural Environment

Investigating the influencing factors on people's feeding behavior to free ranging dogs in Jiroft city

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran.

2 Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, University College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

10.22059/jne.2024.376597.2671

Abstract

Today, the population of Free ranging dogs (FRDs) is increasing all over the world, which has led to conflict between humans and dogs in urban environments. Understanding people's emotion and attitudes towards FRDs can help to solve this conflict. In recent years, the presence of FRDs has increased in the different cities of Iran, which has led to an increase in bites, fear, disturbing the comfort and health of people. The main aim of the present study is to investigate the factors affecting the feeding behavior to FRDs in Jiroft city by people in Kerman province between 23 September and 22 December 2022. For this purpose, the variable of feeding and no feeding as a dependent variable and other variables such as age, sex, education level, fear, agreeing with the fact that the presence of FRDs will threaten people's safety and health, and how many of their neighbors feed FRDs were considered as an independent variable. Finally, in order to investigate these variables, we used logistic regression. Results showed that 34.5% of the respondents fed FRDs. Results indicated that people who are more afraid of FRDs are less inclined to feed them (B=-0.810, P=0.000), as well as, people who perceive FRDs as a threat to their safety and health (B=-0.473, P=0.009) are also reluctant to feed them. Also, results indicated that women are more willing to feed FRDs compared to men (B=-1.060, P=0.000). Age and education have no significant effect on people's feeding behavior. This study shows that sustainable management of FRDs ​​population and solving their conflict with people requires a deep understanding of attitude, perception, emotion and other factors.

Keywords

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Journal of Natural Environment
Volume 77, Ecology and Biodiversity Management
July 2024
Pages 237-244