Data from: Sociodemographic and regional differences in human-coyote interactions and human attitudes towards coyotes

Attitudes and emotions shape how humans perceive and behave toward
wildlife making them a key component affecting human-wildlife coexistence.
In addition to direct experience with wildlife, research shows that
sociodemographic characteristics and locality can influence a person’s
relationship with wildlife through cultural norms, economic factors, and
general experiences with nature. We focused on the interaction between
humans and coyotes, a widespread North American urban mammal that has had
a particularly divisive history of interactions with humans. We used data
from an online survey distributed to residents of Cook County, Illinois
and Los Angeles County, California to evaluate the relationship between
county of residence, sociodemographics, outdoor activity participation,
direct experience with coyotes, and attitudes and fear toward coyotes. Our
results indicated that respondents who identified as female, respondents
with low incomes, respondents who identify as Asian, Pacific Islander, or
Black, and respondents from Cook County tended to have less positive
attitudes and greater fear toward coyotes than male respondents,
respondents with high incomes, White respondents, and respondents from Los
Angeles County. Some groups’ perception of coyotes was partly explained by
their lower participation in outdoor activities (i.e., respondents with
low incomes, Asian and Pacific Islander respondents, respondents from Cook
County) and/or their less frequent sightings of coyotes (i.e., female
respondents, low-income respondents, Asian and Pacific Islander
respondents). Our study suggests that in addition to direct
experiences, or in their absence, societal structures based on class,
race, and gender influence how people interact with and perceive wildlife.
This adds to a growing literature underscoring the significance of
understanding how systems of oppression shape human-wildlife interactions
and experiences, emphasizing the need to incorporate an environmental
justice lens to human-wildlife coexistence.