Giant panda reintroduction: factors affecting public support

Reintroducing captive-born individuals of some extirpated flagship animal species is a helpful and remedy measure for promoting biodiversity conservation, and a successful reintroduction relies heavily on public support. However, little information is available on the factors affecting the public support for reintroduction of large carnivore species. In order to evaluate public support and willingness to pay for the Giant Panda Reintroduction Project (GPRP), we conducted 1100 interviews in August 2014 at Huaying city, Sichuan, China, close to where captive-born giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) will be reintroduced. The results showed that local people strongly support this project and that 78.5 % of them are willing to pay an annual contribution. Per capita annual payments averaged USD31, and the potential value of donations to the GPRP in Huaying is about 11 million USD per year. Factors like interviewees' residential area, occupation, education level, liking of wildlife, level of concern for wildlife conservation, the degree of familiarity with giant pandas, and the frequency of visiting captive giant pandas significantly affected their attitudes and willingness to pay for the project. The notion of "because I love pandas" was the main reason why respondents were willing to pay for the project; respondents' doubts about the appropriate use of donated funds made them be unwilling to pay for the project. The results suggest that the GPRP is highly and socially acceptable amongst locals due to perceived social, economic and ecological benefits of the reintroduction. These findings clearly indicate, for the chances of reintroduction to be most socially accepted, governments should improve management and accountability when using donated funds, and create more opportunities for the public to engage with giant pandas, thereby encouraging people to become involved in conservation work benefiting conservation for the giant pandas and other endangered species.