Animal welfare concern and perception of nature shape nature users’ support for large herbivore rewilding in Denmark

Ecosystem restoration strategies, such as rewilding and the introduction of large herbivores, are promising approaches that can promote and preserve biodiversity. However, lack of public support can hinder their implementation. We use the case of rewilding in Denmark to measure people’s support for (re-)introducing large herbivores and how support is influenced by participants’ characteristics, perspectives and exposure to photographs of large herbivores. Because of the topic’s sensitivity, we applied a modeling technique that allowed us to account for reporting errors. We found a probability of 63% that participants support large herbivores in Danish nature areas, and that next to demographic effects (e.g. age, gender) concern with animal welfare and agreement with a wilderness image of nature best explain level of support. Our results indicate the importance of considering variation in support between nature users with different perceptions of nature and concerns when planning and conducting (re-) introductions of large herbivores.