Hunters' knowledge, perceived risks, and agency trust associated with chronic wasting disease, and beliefs about CWD management

Context Wildlife agencies spend considerable effort developing comprehensive communication programs to educate various publics about chronic wasting disease (CWD). Deer hunters are important in CWD management, especially regarding surveillance and testing.Aims This article examined the influence of the number of years CWD had been in a state on hunters' knowledge of the disease. Knowledge level was then related to perceived risks associated with CWD, trust in the agency responsible for managing CWD and beliefs about CWD management.Methods Survey data were obtained from resident deer hunters in the US states of Kansas (n = 1170), North Dakota (n = 3242) and Illinois (n = 1237). State of residence served as one independent variable. The second independent variable was knowledge of CWD. Respondents were asked eight true/false questions regarding CWD (0 = incorrect, 1 = correct). A knowledge index was created by summing the correct responses. The index was categorized as low, medium, and high knowledge. There were four multiple-item dependent variables: risk to deer, risk to humans, hunters' trust in the CWD management agency, and beliefs about CWD management.Key results Kansas hunters had the highest knowledge, followed by North Dakota, then Illinois. As knowledge increased, perceived risk to humans decreased, and perceived risk to deer increased. There was a positive relationship between knowledge and trust in agency information. Across beliefs, high knowledge hunters agreed with positively worded statements and disagreed with negatively worded items more than either of the other two knowledge groups. Low knowledge respondents always reported the lowest belief scores, and the middle knowledge group was always in between the other two groups. All tests were statistically significant, but effect sizes were minimal.Conclusions CWD existed in Kansas for only 4 years when the study was conducted. Kansas hunters reported the highest percentage of correct knowledge questions. By comparison, the disease had existed in Illinois for 20 years; Illinois hunters reported the lowest percentage of correct responses. Knowledge is influenced by the newness of a disease. With a new disease, people attend to information campaigns. Over time, experience tempers concerns and knowledge about diseases.Implications Findings highlight complexities managers should consider when designing communication strategies to influence wildlife disease knowledge.