Large carnivores have been present in Slovenian forests for a long time, but with the expansion of urban areas and the consequent reduction of their habitat, we are obliged to coexist. Although attacks on humans are rare, wolves, lynxes and bears often inspire fear in people, and farmers in particular can suffer material damage as a result. In this master's thesis, we wanted to test the attitudes and knowledge of zoo visitors towards all three large carnivores and compare the results according to gender, age, level of
education, pet ownership, frequency of zoo visits and residence in an area where wolves are present or absent. The data were obtained from the Ljubljana Zoo via a printed
survey. Using IBM SPSS, we statistically analysed the data and obtained results which showed that on average respondents' knowledge of large carnivores is poor, while their attitudes are positive. Male, older and more highly educated respondents have more knowledge and more positive attitudes towards wolves, lynx and bears. Ownership of a
pet, frequency of visits to zoos and residence in a wolf area have no influence on knowledge and attitudes.
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