Pakistan Zoo Visitors’ Perceptions toward Zoos and Large Native Carnivores
, Sehrish Mehmood 2, Ishtiaq Ullah 3, Eduardo J. Fernandez 4, Muhammad Numan Khan 5, Mujeeb Ullah 6, Kiran Saleem 7, Muhammad Osama 8, Fahad Shahzad 3 and Sarah L. Spooner 9,†
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Thank you for the opportunity to review. The paper is well presented and only has minimal grammatical or typo errors. The continual need to assess the messaging received by zoo visitors is important and I think this article does a nice job of contributing to the growing body of literature in this area. One suggestion is to consider how you are presenting your results; that is, Table 2 is a bit large which overtaxes the reader to interpret the results. Perhaps this could be presented in a more digestible way.
Author Response
Table two havs been revised accordingly
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have presented the results of research on visitor perceptions at three zoos in Pakistan regarding the zoo's contribution to conservation, large native carnivores, and factors influencing visitor perceptions. They have presented adequate results and explicitly discussed the role of zoos in educating urban communities about animals potentially involved in human-wildlife conflicts. Therefore, this manuscript is suitable for publication in Diversity in the proposed special issue. Some changes that are still needed will improve the quality of this paper. I also suggested to cite more recent literature. The language will improve if checked by native speakers and reduce misspellings.
Comments:
Line 2 : Title more specific, focused on animal target: … native large carnivores.
Line 32: “has a strong impact on” change “strongly impacts”.
Line 35: perceived
Line 36: concerns.
Line 43: the conservation
Line 48: reintroducing species.
Line 57: In countries,… It is not clear which countries the author is referring to.
Line 67: It is necessary to add data on the large mammal species in Pakistan and how many % are threatened.
Line 68-70: This sentence is out of context. More relevant if added information on various conflicts between wildlife and humans. That affects people's perceptions a lot.
Line 71: "…, it is of particular concern in Pakistan" it is not clear, a particular concern in what?
Line 72-73: Are hunting and human-wildlife conflict just an additional factor? Many examples are mentioned in the next sentence.
Line 80: several studies on awareness of rural communities need to be cited
Line 81: Critically point, It is necessary to clarify the reasons for the importance of knowing the perceptions of urban communities. The urban community is far from the conflict area.
Line 84-85: "… targeting future campaigns in the region", not clear.
Line 92: consistent terms "native species/ native large carnivore/ Endangered Pakistani native species / endangered large mammals / endangered native mammals"
Line 96: The description of the three zoos needs to be explained in a balanced way. The sufficient description is only for Lahore Zoo and not for the other two zoos. Complete with a brief description of the city where each zoo is located.
Line 99: What is the endangered status reference? And also critically endangered (Line 194). In the IUCN red list, none of these species is listed as endangered or critically endangered.
Line 99-100: consistent terms "Endangered Pakistani native species"
Line 105: around
Line 107: conservation
Line 116: “as such, focus is” replace “focusing”
Line 108-109: How about the conditions around Peshawar Zoo and Jungle Kingdom?
Line 115-117: This requires more description. i.e. the number of animal collections and species, etc. One paragraph must be more than one sentence.
Line 120: I believe that Visitors to the zoo consist of children, adults, and the elderly. Clarify the general rule to that random selection.
Line 120: were invited
Line 130: consistent terms "Native species".
Line 133: SPSS and R are both tools for statistical analysis; state the use of each.
Line 148-149: heteroskedasticity
Line 157: VIF Tolerance Value requires reference
Line 178: Add more about comparing visitor perceptions between the three zoos.
Line 187: consistent terms "endangered large mammals"
Line 188: Term "endangered species"?
Line 188-189: One paragraph must be more than one sentence.
Line 188-198: Add the difference in the results of visitors' perceptions between zoos.
Line 191: consistent terms "endangered native mammals"
Line 200: respondent
Line 207: respondent’s
Line 211: Respondent’s
Line 211-212: One paragraph must be more than one sentence.
Line 213-215: One paragraph must be more than one sentence.
Line 231: perceive
Line: 232: possibly
Line 242: fundamentally
Line 276-280: However, additional information is needed that the best habitat for wildlife is the wild, not in zoos.
Line 285: perceived
Line 286: appealing
Line 308-309: This statement needs to be supported by references to research results in rural areas.
Line 312-314: What are the implications of this research for Pakistan's wildlife conservation efforts or reducing human-wildlife conflict? Aren't urban communities far from the habitat of this wildlife? Please explain better.
Line 344-345: The author's suggestions for zoos could be clearer. Who is targeted for education at a higher level?
Line 345: prompting conservation
Line 437: visitors
Author Response
Please find answers to the comments in the attached word format.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
