Public preferences for options to manage chronic wasting disease in Canada: A paired comparisons study

In the past, public stakeholders have indicated strong negative preferences in response to some approaches, such as culling, for managing Chronic wasting disease (CWD). We collect data across Canada from the general public and several stakeholder groups and assess their preferences using a paired comparison approach. The results suggest that the public wants action in managing CWD. Members of the general public seem receptive to a number of different types of management approaches for CWD. Specifically, the public seems to support hunters reducing herd sizes, through increased tags and compensation for submitting positive testing CWD heads, and promoting environmental sampling on private land to detect CWD. In contrast, the public seems to dislike using sharpshooters to cull herds (on public or private land), and a number of options involving landowners, including increasing the number of licenses they may obtain, allowing them to charge hunters for access and providing them with extension services. Another stark result of our study is the remarkable homogeneity of preferences across different segments of society. There are very few cases where we find conflicting positive and negative preferences across groups.