During this week, our team started surveying of public attitudes toward the lynx. The survey is targeted at Lika and Gorski kotar, in Croatia, using the random adress selection methhod. Participants of the survey will remain annonymus. Questionnaires have been sent at the end of the last week, and are already being received by randomly picked participants. They are packed in white envelopes with the project logo, which also contains instructions for filling out the forms, and a postage with prepaied return postage.
Inhabitants of Lika and Gorski kotar have been coexisting with lynx for decades, and it is quite important for us to have insight in their perception of the lynx: do they want to be sharing the habitat with the lyxn, how much do they know about its ecology, and what do they think of its future in respected area? FIlling of the questionnaires takes no more then 10 minutes, and returning them to the our sending adress is very simple. Envelopes with prepaid return postage come with the questionnaire, and additional filling or paying of any kind is not required. After the questionnaires are filled and returned, they will be analyzed.
Questionnaire envelope ilustration
Final results will be published on LIFE Lynx web, and the local media. The data from the survey will help in steering the future activities of LIFE Lynx project, and lynx management as well. The first survey of this kind was performed in 2008., and it is important to keep in touch with the public perception and challenges.