Golden jackal numbers are now increasing in the Danube Delta. Rewilding Europe has undertaken a preliminary local study to examine jackal behaviour and gauge people’s attitudes towards this resilient carnivore.

Representatives of ten European Rewilding Network sites came together in March to discuss how social science and raising awareness can achieve better human-wildlife coexistence and mitigate human-wildlife conflict.

In the early autumn of 2015, Rewilding Europe carried out a major attitude and knowledge assessment about rewilding, biodiversity and Natura 2000 network in eight rewilding areas. The assessment covered seven European countries: Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Poland, Germany and Bulgaria. The results are encouraging; people living in and around these eight rewilding areas understand and support the concept of rewilding, are aware about the problems of biodiversity loss and endorse the comeback of wildlife species.

More than 300 people living in the Velebit Mountains and coastal area were interviewed in November 2014, in order to obtain a clearer image of the local opinion on nature conservation, wildlife protection and development of nature-based tourism.

The Dutch conservation organization Natuurmonumenten (Dutch Society for the Protection of Nature, 1905), with a staggering number of 735,000 members, 150.000 young members (of the OERRR initiative, 2012) and managing some 345 nature reserves covering over 101,000 hectares in The Netherlands, recently published a survey on the attitude of Dutch people towards wildlife in its country. Some 40,000 people participated in the survey showing a clear and positive attitude towards wildlife, wildlife comeback and more space for wild nature and wildlife.