Attitudes to restoring an extinct keystone species

In this paper, we study attitudes in Sweden to bringing back an extinct species, the aurochs ( Bos primigenius ), which once played an important role in European forest ecosystems. This is done using a willingness-to-pay approach, and examining whether willingness to pay for restoring the aurochs is related to the restoration technology (breeding programme or gene editing programme) adopted. Attitudes to de-extinction vary significantly across individuals, but are in general relatively positive, with 59% of respondents stating a willingness to pay for such efforts for the aurochs. Female respondents are more reluctant than males to contribute to the gene-editing technology. However, aside from this gender effect, the technology used (breeding or gene editing) does not affect average WTP, but we generally find acceptance of the idea of de-extinction as well as higher WTP among younger individuals, and especially among members of environmental organisations. • High public support for de-extinction project. • Environmental affiliation is a strong predictor of support for de-extinction. • Restoration technique (breeding vs gene editing) has limited impact on support.