Page 26 - Aatmava Sarvabhuteshu_Final Report_Neat

Interview Field guide for forest staff

To formulate our education programme, a questionnaire survey among the "Working in the sloth bear landscape”: A pocket field guide for the frontline
victims and non-victims was carried out in the villages. Questions were forest staff is prepared and released by Ms. Aradhana Sahu, the Conservator of
developed in such a way that the outputs were reflected in the perceptions of Forests, Vadodara Wildlife Circle. This bilingual booklet contains information
the locals. For the initial six months, based on the secondary data, interviews about sloth bear biology, identification of sloth bear signs in the field, sloth bear
were conducted with victims as well as other villagers through a semi- monitoring protocols, and the legal provisions for sloth bear rescue, which can
structured questionnaire in the villages surrounding the sanctuary area. help the forest field staff in the field. The booklet is distributed among the field
Meeting the locals and victims of the bear attack and questioning them to staff of all the divisions of the Gujarat Forest Department.
identify with their level of understanding about the sloth bear and their
knowledge about the species living in the study area.

We asked the respondents close-ended questions to answer 'yes/no', or
'agree/disagree', and then explain their answers in an open-ended way (Debata
et al., 2016). To understand the locals' viewpoint on their existence with sloth

bears, we asked questions like, "Is the sloth bear a threat to man? Can the
absence of a bear be a blessing? Do bears need protection?" The interviews
were conducted in the local language. We conducted the survey mostly in the
morning, as this is the time when respondents are present at home, and for the
rest of the day they are engaged in daily chores. The majority of the people
interviewed were farmers, laborers, and some shopkeepers.

15 Sloth bear Conservation Education Programme 16 Sloth bear Conservation Education Programme
WCB Research Foundation WCB Research Foundation