This article reports on the first comparative surveys in two separate locations to measure public attitudes toward sharks following shark bite incidents. This study focuses directly on the communities affected by the shark bites, both in Australia—the town of Ballina in the State of New South Wales (N = 500) and the city of Perth in Western Australia (N = 600)—and reports on their attitudes and policy preferences relating to sharks immediately after serious shark bite incidents in 2015 and 2016. In both communities we find that a large majority of respondents prefer nonlethal policies; most respondents believe shark bite incidents to be accidental rather than intentional; while fear of sharks correlates with support for lethal policies, this association is powerfully mediated by perceptions of intentionality. These findings have implications for international wildlife management, particularly regarding predator species in need of conservation. Conservation is based on the public acceptability of a species and if intentionality can mediate fear effects and promote policies that protect the species this is a step forward for conservation management globally.

中文翻译：

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鲨鱼叮咬和鲨鱼保护：在澳大利亚两个地点发生的鲨鱼叮咬事件后的人类态度分析

本文报道了在两个不同地点进行的首次比较调查，以衡量公众对鲨鱼咬伤事件后对鲨鱼的态度。这项研究直接着眼于受鲨鱼咬伤的社区，无论是在巴利纳的澳大利亚小镇在新南威尔士州（ñ = 500）和珀斯市西澳大利亚（ñ= 600）-并在2015年和2016年发生严重鲨鱼叮咬事件后立即报告了他们对鲨鱼的态度和政策偏好。大多数受访者认为鲨鱼咬伤事件是偶然的，而不是故意的；尽管对鲨鱼的恐惧与对致命政策的支持相关，但这种关联性是由故意意识引起的。这些发现对国际野生动植物管理具有重要意义，特别是在需要保护的捕食物种方面。保护是基于物种的公众接受度，如果故意可以调解恐惧影响并促进保护该物种的政策，那么这是全球保护管理迈出的一步。