Browsing by Subject "lintujen talviruokinta"

Supplementary bird feeding is a popular pastime, as well as one of the most important types of human–wildlife interaction, in Western countries. Bird-feeder sites are visited by birds, mammals, as well as other animals; some of these species are wanted visitors, some unwanted. Supplementary food at feeding sites offers visitors benefits, at least during winter. However, effects at the species, population and community level can be complex, and none of these levels necessarily benefit automatically from supplementary feeding. On the other hand, bird feeding generally increases human wellbeing. Animal attitudes affect the way we think about non-human animals. It has been discovered that how we view animals visiting feeding sites affects the ways in which people feasibly change the supplementary feeding they provide. Research on the subject has mostly been Anglo-American in context to date. Animal attitudes also affect official rules and regulations that govern the supplementary feeding or control measures of wildlife, for example. In this thesis, I have investigated the responses from a 2021 survey by the Finnish Museum of Natural History (Luomus) and BirdLife Finland. The survey was concerned with supplementary bird feeding and recent changes thereof. The survey got over 14,000 responses, over 9,000 of which included answers to open-ended questions. I sifted through the open-ended responses to find out which animal species and other organisms affect supplementary bird feeding provided by the respondents, and why. I utilised both quantitative and qualitative research methods to uncover such organisms and their effects. I used qualitative content analysis as my main method. I discovered that there are many types of primarily animal-/organism-related reasons behind changes in bird-feeding behaviour. I categorised these 28 reasons under seven subcategories within three main categories. Many of the reasons can have both negative (stop/decrease/shorten) and positive (start/increase/extend) effects on supplementary feeding. A discernible portion of the reasons are propped by one animal attitude or another. The category-based assortment of reasons acts as the main finding of this study, and it reflects the complexity of animal attitudes. I have additionally listed all taxons (species/groups of organisms) found in the survey responses along with their effects on supplementary feeding. I have produced novel information on which animal-related factors affect supplementary bird feeding in Finland, and why. Were we to better understand the inherent complexity of animal attitudes, authorities’ facts-based decision-making and a favourable general attitude towards endangered-species conservation could be enhanced. Zoonosis control could also gain new perspectives from novel information.