To determine the effectiveness of conservation strategies, not only should we monitor biological variables, such as population size and levels of illegal activity, but also we should examine changes in attitudes and behavior of local community members. Here, I use semistructured interviews of employees at two field sites, in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda and Loango National Park, Gabon, to understand if their employment influenced their attitude towards gorillas and conservation and led to behavior change. In contrast to western views of gorillas as “gentle giants,” staff viewed gorillas as dangerous animals before working for these projects. Overall, employment leads to viewing conservation and gorillas more positively, and in many cases, viewing the gorillas as kin. The most common value attributed to the gorillas was economic, yet intrinsic and non‐use existence values were frequently mentioned. Loango staff, but not Bwindi staff, reported behavior change related to hunting and bushmeat consumption, which likely is related to bushmeat consumption being commonplace in Gabon but not in Uganda. The Bwindi staff seemed to have a more positive and broader outlook toward conservation than the Loango staff, possibly because they had more years of formal education, they worked with gorillas longer, there is more history of conservation activities in Bwindi, and/or they have been less directly affected by negative consequences of conservation (e.g., crop raiding). This study shows the importance of explaining that gorillas are not dangerous if not provoked and using their human‐like characteristics as a means to change conservation values and interest of local communities, while concurrently recognizing that providing economic benefits and reducing negative effects of wildlife are a reality for conservation buy‐in.

中文翻译：

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通过员工访谈评估对大猩猩保护的态度。

为了确定保护策略的有效性，我们不仅应该监测生物变量，例如人口规模和非法活动水平，还应该检查当地社区成员态度和行为的变化。在这里，我对乌干达布温迪不可穿越国家公园和加蓬 Loango 国家公园的两个实地考察的员工进行半结构化访谈，以了解他们的工作是否影响了他们对大猩猩和保护的态度并导致行为改变。与西方将大猩猩视为“温柔的巨人”的观点相反，在为这些项目工作之前，工作人员将大猩猩视为危险的动物。总体而言，就业导致更积极地看待保护和大猩猩，并且在许多情况下，将大猩猩视为亲属。大猩猩最常见的价值是经济、然而，内在和非使用存在价值经常被提及。Loango 工作人员（而非 Bwindi 工作人员）报告了与狩猎和食用丛林肉相关的行为变化，这可能与食用丛林肉在加蓬司空见惯有关，但在乌干达则不然。Bwindi 的工作人员似乎比 Loango 的工作人员对保护有更积极和更广泛的看法，这可能是因为他们受过更多的正规教育，他们与大猩猩一起工作的时间更长，Bwindi 的保护活动历史更多，和/或他们有受保护的负面后果（例如，作物掠夺）的直接影响较小。这项研究显示了解释大猩猩即使不被激怒也不会危险的重要性，并利用它们的人类特征作为改变当地社区保护价值和利益的手段，