Disease outbreak in wildlife changes online sales of management items

Abstract

Infectious diseases of wildlife cause human health hazards and economic losses. However, it is unclear how outbreaks affect human behaviour in relation to countermeasures against human–wildlife conflict. To explore the effects of infectious disease outbreaks among wild boars on countermeasure choices, we analysed online auction data before and after an outbreak of classical swine fever in wild boar. Online sales of boar traps decreased by 17 % after the outbreak, whereas sales of control items increased by 73 %. These results imply that infectious disease outbreaks in wildlife shift people's countermeasures from active to passive management. Since active trapping for the control of wildlife populations is essential to the avoidance of human–wildlife conflict, our findings show that outbreaks of infectious disease can aggravate conflict. Governments, farmers and hunters need to improve population control after outbreaks of infectious disease.